IRLF 


LIBRARY 

OF  THE 

UNIVERSITY  OF  CALIFORNIA. 


BIOLOGY  r//7cc 

LIBRARY  LlasS 

G 


CHAPTERS 


ON    THE 


N  ATUR  A  L     HISTORY 


OF    THE 


UNITED   STATES 


BY 

R.  W.  SHUFELDT,  M.D. 

CAPTAIN,    MEDICAL    DEPARTMENT,    U.  8.    ARMY    (RETIRED). 

ASSOCIATE    IN    ZOOLOGY,    SMITHSONIAN 

INSTITUTION. 


Author  of   «  The  Osteology  of  Arctic  and  Subarctic  Water  Birds,"  "  The  Myology 

of  the  Raven,"  "Lectures  on  Biology,"  "The  Anatomy 

of  Heloderma,"  Etc.,  Etc. 


STUDER  BROTHERS,  Publishers, 

114  Fifth  Avenue,  New  York. 


Issued   under  the  auspices  of 

THE   NATURAL    SCIENCE   ASSOCIATION   OF   AMERICA, 

NEW  YORK,  U.  S.  A. 
1900 


BIOLOGY 
LIBRARY 

G  , 


COPYRIGHT,  1897, 
BY  JACOB  H.  STUDER 


To 

MY    LEARNED    AND    ESTEEMED    FRIEND 

THEODORE  NICHOLAS  GILL 

I    DEDICATE    THIS    BOOK, 

NOT    ONLY 
As    A    SLIGHT    TOKEN    OF    MY    PERSONAL    REGARD, 

BUT    ALSO 

To  EXPRESS  MY  PROFOUND  APPRECIATION 
OF 

His  genius,  and  for  the  power  and 
influence  his  many  works 

have  had  in 
advancing  the  best  interests  of  General  Biology. 


CONTENTS 


CONTENTS. 

CHAPTER.  PAGE. 

I.     Methods  of  Study  of  Natural  History                              .  .        23 

II.     Classification  of  Animals    .....  29 

III.  Some  Interesting  Insects,  with  Notes  on  the  Class  (Insecta]  .        35 

IV.  Crayfish  and  Crabs  (Crustacea)       ....  54 

V.     Sawfish,  Rays,  Sharks,  and  Their  Allies,  with  Notes  on  Deep- 
sea  Fishes  (Elasmobranchii,  etc.)       .              .              .  .64 

VI.     Sea  Horses  and  Eels  (Hippocampidce :  A nguillidce)               .  82 

VII.     Frogs,  Toads,  Newts,  and  other  Amphibians  (Amphibia)  .       91 

VIII.     Some  Observations  on  Lizards  (Lacertilia) .              .              .  108 

IX.     Protective  Coloration  in  Snakes,  with  other  Notes  about  Them 

(OpUdia)     .              ....              .              .  .130 

X.     Turtles  and  Tortoises  (Chelonia)    .                                          .  146 

XI.     Alligators  and  Crocodiles  (Crocodilia)               ,              .  .     156 

XII.     Grebes,  Loons,  and  Auks  (Pygopodes :  Alcce.)           .              .  164 

XIII.  Gulls  and  Their  Allies  (Longipennes)   .              .              .  183 

XIV.  Pelicans  and  Their  Relatives  (Steganopodes)             .              .  195 
XV.     Meadow-larks  and  Partridges  (genus  Sturnella  :  Perdicinai)  204 

XVI.     American  Vultures.        (Superfamily    Cathartoidea.)      (Family 

Catharlidce.)       ......  221 

XVII.     Some  of  the  Owls  of  the  United  States  (Striges)  .     232 

XVIII.     The  Carolina  Paroquet  and  other  Notes     .               .              .  250 

XIX.     The  United  States  Cuckoos  (Family  Cuculidce)              .  .     260 

XX.     Woodpeckers:  Photographically  and  Pterylographically  con- 
sidered (Pici)    ,  270 


8  CONTENTS 

CHAPTER  PAGE 

XXI.     The    Cedar    Birds  :    with  Notes  on  Where  Birds  Lay  Their 

Eggs  (Ampelida>:   Turdus:  Vireo:  etc.]         .  .  .      291 

XXII.     The  American  Warblers  and  Sparrows  (Mniotittidce  and  Fringil- 

.  .  .  .  .  .317 


XXIII.  The  Yellow-breasted    Chat;    Cat-birds;    and  the  Oven-bird 

(Icteria    virens  ;     Galeoscoptes    carolinensis  ;     and     Siurus 
auricapillus)  ......     340 

XXIV.  The  Common  Opossum  and  Its  Kin  (DidelpJiys  virginiana)  364 
XXV.     W  hales  and  Manatees  (Cetacea:  Sirenia)          .              .              .     374 

XXVI.     The  Flying  Squirrel  and  Its  Relatives  (Family  Sciuridce)    .  399 

XXVII.     The  Deer  Mouse,  with  Notes  on  other  Rodents  (Peromyscus  leu- 

copus:  Rodentia}      .  .  .  .  .  .     415 

XXVIII.     Bats  and  Their  Habits  (Chiroptera)  .  .  .427 

XXIX.     Museums  and  Their  Uses  :  with  some  Observations  on  Tax- 

idermy       .  .  .  442 


ILLUSTRATIONS 


LIST  OF  ILLUSTKATIONS. 

PAGE 

Portrait  of  Author  (1894)  .....  Frontispiece 

Fig.  1.  Spider  Carrying  Her  Young  in  a  Silken  Ball  (Dolomedcs  tene- 

brosus,  Hentz).  From  a  photograph  by  the  Author  .  39 

Fig.  2.  The  Whip-tailed  Scorpion  (Thelyphonus  giganteus).  Natural 

size.  From  life,  by  the  Author  .  .  .41 

Fig.  3.  A  Typical  Dragon-fly  (Libellula  trimaculata)  :  $  natural  size. 

From  a  photograph  of  living  specimen  by  the  Author  45 

Fig.    4.  The  Praying  Mantis.      Drawn  from  life  by  the  Author               .         50 

Fig.    5.  The  Violet  Land  Crab.     Drawn  by  the  Author        .              .                61 

Fig.    6.  Sawfish  (P.  pectinatus).     Side  view         .              .              .              .65 

Fig.     7.  Sawfish  (P.  pectinatus).     Ventral  view          ...                65 

Fig.    8.  Torpedo  (Torpedo  occidentalis)                 .              .              .              .69 

Fig.     9.  Barndoor  Skate  (Raid  Icevis)             ....                69 

Fig.  10.  Sting  Ray  ( Trygon  sabina)          .              .              .              .              .69 

Fig.  11.  The  White  Shark  (Carcharias)         ....                71 

Fig.  12.  Hammerhead  Shark  (Zygcena  malleus)  .              .              .              .73 

Fig.  13.  Chlamydoselachus  anguineus              ....                 75 

Fig.  14.  The  Torchfish  (Linophryne  lucifer]          .              .              .              .77 

Fig.  15.  Neolythites  steatiticus            .....                79 

Fig.  16.  Odontostomas  alratus     .              ,              .                            .              .79 

Fig.  17.  Bathypercis  platyrhynchus    .....                 79 

Fig.  18.  Physiculus  argyropastus               .              .              .              .              .79 

Fig.  19.  The  Sea-horse  (Hippocampus  heptagonus                     .              .                83 

Fig.  20.  Phylopteryx  eques            .              .              .              .              .              .84 

Fig.  21.  Fry  of  Sea-horse                   .....                 85 

Fig.  22.  The  Common  Eel  (Anguilla  vulgaris)     .              .              .              .88 

Fig.  23.  Life-size  head  of  Murcenopsis  tridaetylus      ...                92 

Fig.  24.  The  Tiger  Salamander                .              .              .              .              .97 

Fig.  25.  Common  Bullfrog.      From  photograph  by  the  Author         .               101 

Fig.  26.  Tree-toads  (Hyla  versicolor)        .              .              .              .              .103 

Fig.  27.  Anolis  principal™     ......              Ill 

Fig.  28.  Gila  Monsters  (Heloderma  suspeclum)     .               .              .              .117 

Fig.  29.  Side  view  of  the  Head  of  a  Heloderma        .                            .119 

Fig.  30.  Superior  view  of  a  Heloderma                 ....       121 

Fig.  31.  Ventral  view  of  a  Heloderma  ....  123 


!•_)  LIST    OF    ILLUSTRATIONS 

PAGK 

1  ;      :;•_'.  The  Collared  Lizard  (Crotaphytus  collari*) 

127 

Fig.  :i3.  Sceloporus  undulatnx 

Fig.  34.  Summer  Snake  (Cydophis  vernalis),  in  Smilax  Vine        . 

Fig.  35.  Young  of  Water  Snake  (Natrix  sipedori)      . 

Fig.  36.  The  Blotched  King  Snake  (Lampropeltis  rhombomaculata) 

Fig.  :*7.  Floor  of  the  Mouth  of  Bullsnake  (P.  s.  bellona) 

Fig.  38.  Left  Intersil  view  of  the  head  of  Bullsnake 

Fig.  30.  Young  Box  Tortoise  (Citstudo  Carolina) 

Fig.  40.  Shell  of  Testudo  pardalis.     Upper  or  dorsal  aspect 

Fig.  41.  Shell  of  Testudo  pardalis.     Lower  or  ventral  aspect 

Fig.  42.  The  Carapace  of  a  Young  Hawk's-bill  Turtle  (Caretta  imbricata)     153 

Fig.  43.  Head  of  Crocodile                                                                                       157 

Fig.  44.  TheGavial       .                                                                                .162 

Fig.  45.  The  Horned  Grebe                                                                                    1G5 

Fig.  46.  Right  lateral  aspect  of  the  Head  of  the  Black-throated  Diver 

(Urinator  arcticus)  .  .  •  •  •  l^l 

Fig.  47.  Whiskered  Anklet         .                                                                     .175 

Fig.  48.  The  Great  Auk  (Plautus  imjiennis)                                                           179 

Fig.  49.  Ross's  Gull  (Rhodostethia  rosea)                                                      •       184 

Fig.  50.  Trudeau's  Tern        .                                                                                      188 

Fig.  51.  The  Long-tailed  Jaeger                                                                        •       190 

Fig.  52.  The  Black  Skimmer             ....                            192 

Fig.  53.  The  Brown  Pelican       .              .                                                       .       196 

Fig.  51.  Xest  of  Meadow-lark  containing  Two  Young  (Sturnella  magna)       207 

Fig.  55.  The  Meadow-lark           .              .              .             .              .              .211 

Fig.  56.  The  Massena  Partridge       ...                                          217 

Fig.  57.  Head  of  the  Turkey  Vulture  (Cathartes  aura)    .              .              .      222 

Fig.  58.  Young  Turkey  Vulture  (Cathartes  aura)       .             .             .              225 

Fig.  .V.».  The  American  Long-eared  Owl  (Asio  wilsonianus)          .             .      2,'*r> 

Fig.  »JO.  The  Long-eared  Owl  (A.  wilsonianus).     From  a  photograph  by 

the  Author   .......       2137 

Fig.  61.  Nestling  of  Barred  Owl      .....              241 

Fig.  62.  Head  of  Young  Barred  Owl  (Syrnium  nebulosum)            .              .       244 

Fig.  63.  The  Carolina  Paroquet  (Conurus  carolinensis)           .               .              251 

Fig.  64.  The  Yellow-billed  Cuckoo  (C.  americanus)         .             .             .      261 

Fig.  65.  Photograph    of    a    Live    Specimen    of    Downy    Woodpecker 

(Dry abates  pubescens)       .  .  .  .  .  271 

'••I.  Vertical  Section  of   Tree,    showing    Nest    of    Golden-winged 

Woodpecker,  containing  Six  Young  .  .  .       275 


LIST    OF    ILLUSTRATIONS  13 

PAGE 

Fig.  07.  Nestling  Golden-winged  Woodpecker        .              .              .  279 

Fig.  68.  Pterylosis  of  Harris's  Woodpecker.     Lateral  view       .               .  278 

Fig.  69.  Pterylosis  of  Harris's  Woodpecker.      Dorsal  and  ventral  views  283 

Fig.  70.  Pterylosis  of  Red-naped  Woodpecker.     Ventral  view        .  285 

Fig.  71.  Pterylosis  of  Red-naped  Woodpecker.      Dorsal  view          .  287 

Fig.  72.  Cedar  Waxwing  (Ampelis  cedrorum}.     Photograph  from  life    .  293 

Fig.  73.  Cedar  Bird  (Ampelis  cedrorum).    Photograph  from  living  specimen  295 

Fig.  74.  A  Pair  of  Cedar  Birds  (Ampelis  cedrorum.     Adult   $  and   9  299 

Fig.  75.  Nest  of  Wood  Thrush  (Turdus  mustelinus)              .              .  303 

Fig.  76.  Young  Wood  Thrush  (Turdus  mustelinus)         .              .              .  307 

Fig.  77.  Nest  and  Young  of  Red-eyed  Vireo  (Vireo  olivaceous)        .  311 

Fig.  78.  Nest  and  Young  of  the  Indigo  Bunting  (Passerina  cyanea)      .  315 

Fig.  79.  Black-poll  Warbler  (Dendroica  striata)   $  .     From  life      .  321 

Fig.  80.  Nest  and  Young  of  the  Yellow  Warbler  (Dendroica   cestiva). 

Taken,  natural  size,  in  situ,  from  nature  by  the  Author        .  325 

Fig.  81.  Nest  and  Three  Young  of  the  Prairie  Warbler      .              .  327 

Fig.  82.  Young  Chipping  Sparrows  (Spizella  socialis)    .              .              .  331 

Fig.  83.  A  Pair  of  Crossbills           .....  337 

Fig.  84.  Nest  and  Young  of  Yellow-breasted  Chat  (Icteria  virens)         .  343 

Fig.  85.  Nest  and  Young  of  Catbird  (Galeoscoptes  carolinensis)         .  347 

Fig.  86.  A  Pair  of  Young  Catbirds       .              .              .              .              .351 

Fig.  87.  The  Oven-bird  (Siurus  auricapillus).     Natural  size              .  355 

Fig.  88.  Nest  of  the  Oven-bird  (Siurus  auricapillus)      .              .              .  359 

Fig.  89.  Nest  of  Furnarius               .....  361 

Fig.  90.  Vertical  Section  of  the  Nest  of  Furnarius        .              .              .361 

Fig.  91.  Young  of  American  Opossum  (D.  virginiana)          .              .  365 

Fig.'    92.  Young  of  American  Opossum  (D.  virginiana).    Right  lateral  view  371 

Fig.  93.  Common  Dolphin  (D.  delphis)        ....  379 

Fig.  94.  Skunk  Porpoise  (Lagenorhynchus  gubernator)    .              .              .  381 

Fig.  95.  The  Blackfish  (Globiocephalus  melas)           .              .              .  381 

Fig.  96.  The  Grampus  (Grampus  griseua)            ....  383 

Fig.  97.  The  Herring-hog  (Phocfena  communis)        .              .              .  384 

Fig.  98.  The  Sperm  Whale       .              .              .              .              .              .385 

Fig.  99.  The  Bowhead  Whale  *      .              .              .              .              .  385 

Fig.  100.  The  Narwhal              .              .              .              .  389 

Fig.  101.  The  Sperm  Whale              .....  389 

Fig.  102.  Skull  of  African  Manatee  (Manatus  senegalensis)                       .  392 


14  LIST    OF    ILLUSTRATIONS 

PAGE 

Fig.  103.  Front  View  of  the  Head  of  the  American  Manatee.      Lips  di- 

x  arii-sited)           .....  392 

Fig.  104.  Front  View  of  the   Head  of  the  American  Manatee.      Lips 

contracted               .                                                        .              .  392 

Fig.  lor,.  South  American  Manatees.     Attitudes  of  swimming          .  395 

Fig.  106.  South  American  Manatees  in  Act  of  Feeding                              .  395 

Fig.  107.  The  Flying  Squirrel  (Sciuroptems  v.  volueella)        .  401 

Fig.  108.  The  Gila  Chipmunk    .                                                                      .  407 

Fig.  109.  Life-size  Head  of  a  Specimen  of  Abert's  Squirrel               .  412 

Fig.  110.  True's  Pifion  Mouse.     Life  size  from  nature  .                            .  416 

Fig.  111.  The  Deer  Mouse  (P.  leucopus).     From  life             .              .  417 

Fig.  112.  The  Jumping  Mouse                .....  421 

Fig.  113.  Section  of  the  Skull  of  a  Beaver  (Castor  fiber)      .              .  424 

Fig.  114.  Side  View  of  the  Skull  of  a  Beaver  (after  Huxley)     .              .  424 

Fig.  115.  Side  View  of  Skull  of  Muskrat  (Fiber  zibethicus)  .              .  424 

Fig.  116.  Bats  in  an  Old  Tree-stump     .  .  .  .  .429 

Fig.  117.  Serotine  Bat                                     ....  433 

Fig.  118.  Serotine  Bat.     Front  view      .....  437 

Fig   119.  Ornithological  Hall  of  the  Smithsonian  Institution             .  447 

Fig.  120.  Model  of  Sunfish,  ready  to  receive  the  skin     .  451 

Fig.  121.  Anterior  View  of  Mounted  Sunfish  453 

Fig.  122.  Mounted  Specimen  of  a  Sunfish           .              .              .  455 

Fig.  123.  Group  of  Jackals               .                                          .              .  457 

Fig.  124.  Model  of  Jackal  .  .  .  .  .456 

Fig.  125.  Model  of  Jackal                 .                            ...  459 

Fig.  126.  Mounted  Specimen  of  Fox      .              .  460 

Fig.  127.  Model  of  Young  Bear       .                                          .  465 

Fig.  128.  Mounted  Specimen  of  Young  Polar  Bear         .              .              .  467 

Fig.  129.  Mounted  Specimen  of  the  European  Pine  Marten                .  470 

Fig.  130.  Rhea  Americana          .             .  471 


INTRODUCTION 


INTRODUCTION 

N  ottering  to  my  readers  the  Chapters  on  Nat- 
ural History  found  in  the  present  voluuieritas 
not  with  the  intention  of  placing  before  them 
anything  having  the  form  of  a  systematic 
treatise  upon  the  subject,  but  rather  a  series 
of  nature  stories  selected  at  random  by  their 
author.  During  the  past  ten  or  twelve  years 
or  more  I  have  contributed  to  the  various 
popular-science  magazines  of  this  country 
accounts  and  descriptions  of  many  of  our  bet- 
ter-known mammals,  birds,  reptiles,  fish,  and 
insects,  and  it  is  from  these  that  the  present 
chapters  have  been  largely  borrowed.  In 
nearly  every  case,  however,  they  have  been  extensively  revised, 
augmented,  and  in  a  few  instances  new  illustrations  added  to 
them.  A  few  of  these  chapters  appear  now  for  the  first  time, 
never  having  been  published  elsewhere.  Judging  from  what  my 
many  correspondents  have  kindly  written  me  in  years  gone  by,  I 
feel  safe  in  saying  that  my  labors  along  these  lines  have  been 
met  with  marked  favor,  and  it  is  my  earnest  hope  that  there  has 
been  no  falling  off  of  this  interest,  and  that  gathered  together  in 
this  their  present  shape  these  brief  life-histories  of  many  of  our 
birds  and  animals  will  be  received  even  with  greater  apprecia- 
tion. 

Technical  descriptions  have  been  largely  disallowed  place  in 
these  pages,  as  in  this  age  of  science  the  literature  in  such  fields 
is  very  rich  and  ample,  while  but  few  really  popular  works  upon 
natural  history  are  being  written.  This  further  inclines  me  to 
believe  that  these  chapters  will  be  favorably  regarded,  especially 
by  those  who  love  to  ramble  in  our  fields  and  forests,  ex- 
plore along  the  banks  of  our  streams  and  shores,  and  delight  in 
reading  about  the  forms  in  nature  that  they  meet  with  there 
every  day.  I  trust,  too,  that  these  accounts  will  stimulate 
others,  and  better  pens  than  mine,  to  add  still  more  to  our  knowl- 
edge of  the  habits  of  our  United  States  animals,  particularly 
those  usually  considered  to  be  abundant  and  well  known.  Often 
these  are  the  very  ones  that  have  been  neglected,  and  the  inti- 


18  INTRODUCTION 

mate  habits  of  which  we  know  the  least  about.  Then  many  of 
the  species  in  our  fauna  are  now  rapidly  becoming  extinct,  and 
ih.-se  especially  need  our  attention  at  the  present  time.  I  will 
h,  very  j:hid  :ind  feel  more  than  repaid  for  my  labor  should  my 
young  naturalist  friends,  boys  and  girls,  like  this  book,  and  wish 
in  ha vi-  it  in  i heir  libraries.  They  liave  been  largely  in  my  mind 
while  iis  pa^vs  were  being  written;  and  my  own  children,  who 
have  not  only  assisted  me  greatly  in  collecting  some  of  the  ma 
teria!  therein  described,  but  have  heard  them  read  ere  they  were 

sent   to  press. 

It  will  be  observed  that  quite  a  large  number  of  the  illustra- 
tions are  reproduced  from  photographs  of  living  animals  of  va- 
rious species  and  kinds.  These  were  all  taken  by  myself  from 
the  living  subjects,  and  nearly  in  every  instance  of  natural  size. 
Too  much  cannot  be  said  in  favor  of  the  constant  use  of  the 
photographic  camera  in  zoology,  and  when  by  its  means  really 
tii  st  rate,  life-like  pictures  of  any  of  our  living  forms  are  secured 
in  natural  attitudes,  and  with  nature's  surroundings,  they  should 
surely  be  published,  and  be  made  to  take  the  place  of  many  of 
the  highly  incorrect  figures  of  our  animals,  still  to  be  found  in 
popular  works  upon  natural  history.  Taxidermists  and  artists 
will  then,  I  am  sure,  appreciate  this  feature  in  my  book,  for  if 
anything  be  useful  and  helpful  to  them  in  their  work  it  is  good 
pictures  of  this  class,  used,  as  they  safely  can  be,  as  models. 

During  the  entire  course  of  preparation  of  the  volume,  not  a 
few  of  the  works  of  other  naturalists  have  been  carefully  con- 
sulted, and  in  many  instances  quoted  from  more  or  less  exten- 
sively. Chief  among  these  have  been  the  writings  of  Professor 
Huxley;  Darwin:  from  his  "Voyage  of  a  Naturalist;"  Sir  William 
II.  Flower  of  the  British  Museum;  the  classical  and  voluminous 
writings  of  Alfred  Newton;  the  very  numerous  and  excellent  con 
tributions  of  Doctors  Philip  Lutley  Sclater  and  R.  Bowlder 
Sharpe;  of  Alexander  Wilson;  the  Parkers;  E.  D.  Cope;  Gill,  and 
(1.  Krown  (Joode  in  fishes;  Packard  and  others  distinguished  in 
eiiininology;  the  unrivaled  works  in  American  ornithology  of 
Robert  Kidgway  and  of  Chas.  E.  Bendire;  those  of  the  veteran 
in  the  study  of  reptiles,  Dr.  Albert  C.  L.  G.  Giinther,  F.K.S.;  and 
;i  greal  many  others. 

In  closing  these  introductory  remarks,  it  gives  me  pleasure 
in  sav  that  ij  would  have  been  practically  impossible  for  me  in 
have  brought  ollt  t|,js  volume  at  the  present  time  had  i!  not  been 


INTRODUCTION  19 

i'or  the  invaluable  and  substantial  aid  rendered  ine  by  niy  very 
good  friend,  A.  C.  Gould,  Esqr.,  the  esteemed  editor  of  Shooting 
and  Fishing,  of  New  York  City,  N.  Y.  Mr.  Gould  not  only  greatly 
encouraged  me  to  write  this  work,  but,  prompted  by  a  generosity 
rarely  equaled,  presented  me  with  the  forty  or  more  half-tone 
blocks  upon  which  are  engraved  the  reproductions  of  altoiLtliose 
animals  photographed  by  me  from  life.  For  this  very  timely 
and  friendly  assistance  I  here  extend  him  niy  most  sincere 
thanks.  All  of  my  articles  kindly  published  for  me  by  Mr.  Gould, 
from  time  to  time  in  his  admirable  journal  have  been  incorpo- 
rated into  the  present  chapters,  and  in  many  cases  without  any 
alteration  whatever.  I  feel  the  deepest  obligations,  too,  to  Mr. 
Benjamin  Lillard,  the  able  editor  of  Popular  Science  News,  of  New 
York  City,  who,  upon  application,  promptly  loaned  me  many 
electrotypes  of  figures  that  during  the  past  few  years  illustrated 
articles  of  mine  in  his  excellent  paper.  I  refer  especially  to  the 
figures  of  the  Violet  Land  Crab;  the  Sea  Horse;  P.  eques;  the 
Common  Eel;  head  of  Crocodile;  the  Gavial;  the  Horned  Grebe; 
Black-throated  Diver;  Whiskered  Auklet;  Trudeau's  Tern;  Peli- 
can; the  Crossbills;  and  others.  The  text-matter  which  these 
figures  illustrated  in  Popular  Science  News  has  also  been  largely 
reproduced  in  the  following  pages,  and  I  am  sure  will  add  ma- 
terially to  the  usefulness  of  the  book. 


CHAPTERS  ON  THE  NATURAL  HISTORY  OF  THE 
UNITED   STATES 


CHAPTER   I. 

METHODS  OF  STUDY  OF  NATURAL  HISTORY. 

HAT  has  been  written  of  the  poet  can  with  equal  truth 
be  applied  to  the  naturalist,  for 
"  ?T  is  long  disputed,  whether  poets  claim 
From  art  or  nature  their  best  right  to  fame; 
But  art,  if  not  enrich'd  by  nature's  vein, 
And  a  rude  genius  of  uncultur'd  strain, 
Are  useless  both;  but  when  in  friendship  join'd, 
A  mutual  succour  in  each  other  find." 

And,  as  in  the  case  of  the  poet,  "naturalists  are  born  and  not 
made."  A  true  naturalist  has  the  spirit  of  genius  born  within 
him,  and  no  amount  of  discouragement,  or  of  misfortune,  or  of 
opposition  will  deter  him  in  the  fulfillment  of  his  destiny.  To 
such  a  one  the  methods  of  research  in  the  fields  he  loves  so  well 
will  be  sought  out  and  come  to  him,  as  it  were,  by  second  nature. 
\\>re  I  asked  what  I  considered  to  be  the  best  qualifications 
for  a  naturalist  to  be  possessed  of,  I  should,  without  hesitation, 
answer,  that,  above  all  else,  he  must  be  a  good  observer;  then,  of 
equal  importance  is  it  that  he  should  be  endowed  with  a  keen 
power  of  reasoning,  in  order  to  logically  utilize  what  he  ob- 
serves. To  these  qualities  of  correct  observation,  and  just  ap- 
preciation of  what  he  sees,  must  be  added  an  unfailing  store  of 
patience,  and  a  capability  for  work  of  any  desired  amount.  True 
naturalists  are  true  men  in  every  sense  of  the  word,  and  of  them 
it  may  be  said  that  no  class  possesses  a  higher  regard  for  all  the 
characteristics  of  the  nobler  side  of  human  nature,  as  those  of 
truth,  candor,  and  unselfishness.  The  majority  of  our  best  nat- 
uralists, and  especially  those  who  come  to  be  our  best  descrip- 
tive biologists,  are  born  with  the  gift  of  drawing  and  painting, 
an  art  which  in  them  rapidly  develops.  This  is  particularly  true 
of  those  who  lay  any  claim  to  being  proficient  in  special  depart- 
ments, as  those  of  ornithology,  ichthyology,  herpetology,  and 
like  sciences. 

Of  course,  this  in  no  way  applies  to  those  philosophic  minds, 
who  may  be  the  expounders,  the  generalizes,  or  the  authors  of 


24  CHAPTERS    ON    THE    NATURAL    HISTORY 

rompendiums  of  any  of  these  .branches.  But  what  I  do  distinctly 
mean  is,  that  for  one  to  be  great  in  ornithology,  for  example,  he 
must  sit  least  be  capable  of  drawing  and  painting  birds  cor- 
rectly, whHln-r  In-  exercises  the  art  nature  may  have  given  him 

or  not. 

.Many  "closet-naturalists"  there  have  been  who,  in  their  life's 
work,  have  demonstrated  their  extreme  usefulness  in  advancing 
the  biological  sciences,  while  upon  the  other  hand  a  great  deal 
of  the  labor  performed  under  such  conditions  has  come  to  be  the 
most  serious  stumbling-block  in  the  way  of  sound  progress. 
Consequently,  whenever  it  becomes  possible,  animals  and  plants 
should  be  invariably  studied  alive,  both  in  nature,  and  under  all 
other  conditions  that  opportunity  may  offer.  It  is  only  by  such 
means  that  we  can  ever  obtain  a  correct  idea  of  form,  color, 
habits,  uses,  and  actions  of  certain  organs  or  appendages,  and 
much  else  besides. 

Of  the  living  specimens,  too,  that  we  study,  we  should  always 
make  good  photographic  pictures,  as  well  as  correct  colored 
drawings.  When  dissections  and  other  preparations  are  made, 
and  no  working  naturalist  can  dispense  with  these,  they,  too, 
must  be  copied  upon  paper,  and  according  to  a  prescribed  scale, 
either  by  the  means  of  pen,  pencil,  brush,  and  pigment;  by  the 
camera;  or  by  the  camera  lucida;  or  by  any  other  skillful  con- 
trivance in  use  for  the  purpose.  In  coloring  dissections  on 
papers,  conventional  tints  should  always  be  used,  as  red  for  the 
arteries  and  blue  for  the  veins,  and  so  on.  If  naturalists  invari- 
ably employed  the  same  colors  for  the  same  structures  in  pro- 
ductions of  Ihis  class,  a  great  point  of  vantage  would  be  gained. 
And  of  still  greater  importance  is  it  that  a  universal  nomen- 
clature of  colors  come  into  use,  and  our  coming  young  natural- 
ists of  the  present  can  do  much  towrard  the  promotion  and 
adoption  of  such  ends. 

When  making  notes  upon  animals,  or  indeed  biological  obser- 
vations of  any  nature  whatever,  or  drawings  from  life  or  dissec- 
lions,  they  must  be  made  as  nearly  coincident  with  the  time  of  the 
observation  as  possible.  In  other  words,  leave  nothing  to  mem- 
ory, but  make  record  only  in  the  presence  of  the  subject  you  pur- 
pose to  describe.  Field  naturalists  and  explorers  should  be  par- 
ticularly exacting  in  this,  their  work  being  reduced  to  writing 
every  t  \von1y-fonr  hours.  By  such  methods  alone  can  accuracy 
be  insured,  and  progress  be  made  certain, 


OF    THE    UNITED    STATES  25 

In  a  naturalist's  armamentarium  there  are  two  sets  of  things 
which  are  co-equal  in  importance  to  him,  and  both  essential  to 
his  success.  These  are  his  implements  upon  the  one  hand,  and 
his  books  upon  the  other.  His  microscope  and  its  appurte- 
nances; his  guns  and  their  belongings;  his  camera  and  its  outfit; 
his  drawing  and  coloring  utensils;  his  other  and  many  various 
instruments  of  precision — may  be  considered  to  be  the  active 
agents  in  his  researches,  while  his  library  is  the  passive  one.  By 
the  means  of  the  first  he  obtains,  studies,  dissects,  and  makes 
descriptive  record  of  material,  while  by  the  use  of  the  second  he 
compares  the  observations  of  others  in  every  possible  way;  de- 
tects errors;  ascertains  the  limitation  of  knowledge  upon  any 
particular  point  or  subject;  and  finally,  establishes  in  his  mind 
the  relative  value  of  his  observations,  and  exactly,  in  the  event 
of  their  being  published,  to  what  extent  they  may  be  considered 
a  contribution  to  the  particular  line  of  biological  research  along 
which  they  have  been  made. 

Both  books  and  implements  should  be  of  the  very  best  obtain- 
able: the  first  in  the  matter  of  recognized  authority,  and  the 
second  with  regard  to  manufacture.  The  best  test  for  the  acqui- 
sition of  either  is  the  appreciation  of  the  feeling  for  its  need. 
Purchase  only  as  the  demand  presses,  and  as  the  widening  of 
your  field  requires  it.  Excess  of  either  tools  or  volumes  can  but 
create  lumber  in  the  laboratory;  demand  care  without  the  ade- 
quate increase  in  efficiency;  and  levy  a  pecuniary  tax,  which 
might  have  been  used  with  greater  power  in  some  other  direction. 

In  the  matter  of  books,  again,  the  naturalist  will  of  course  be 
greatly  influenced  by  circumstances.  If  he  has  access  to  very 
extensive  scientific  public  libraries,  he  needs  at  hand,  of  his 
own,  only  such  works  of  reference  as  his  researches  require. 
These  may  be  limited  in  some  cases  to  text-books,  practical 
works  upon  the  use  of  instruments  and  dissections;  compen- 
diums,  keys,  manuals,  lexicons,  and  the  like,  with  perhaps  some 
fifty  volumes  upon  the  general  literature  of  his  science.  A  dozen 
or  more  good  journals  and  magazines  should  likewise  find  their 
way  to  his  study  table. 

Eight  times  out  of  ten,  I  find  no  difficulty  in  entering  my  li- 
brary and  work-room  in  the  dark,  and  finding  the  volume  I  need, 
or  placing  my  hand  upon  any  implement  required.  Precision, 
extreme  neatness  and  order,  economy  in  time  carried  to  the 
maximum,  and  the  minimum  use  of  appliances  compatible  with 


26  CHAPTERS    ON    THE    NATURAL    HISTORY 

the  best  possible  results,  will  carry  a  capable  naturalist  through 
almost  any  undertaking  in  which  he  may  engage,  and  stamp  his 
uailv  surroundings  with  the  unmistakable  mark  of  success. 

When  we  come  to  the  material  which  it  is  our  intention  to  ex- 
amine, study,  and  describe,  there  is  altogether  another  question 
involved.  The  more  generous  the  supply  of  material  the 
broader,  clearer,  and  more  comprehensive  will  be  the  results  of 
our  researches.  If  possible,  the  amount  of  material  examined 
in  the  study  of  any  zoological  or  botanical  subject  should  be 
sufficiently  Ample  as  to  insure  beyond  all  perad venture  a 
thorough  elucidation  of  every  detail  of  structure,  and  the  widest 
opportunity  for  the  data  of  comparison. 

Say,  for  example,  that  it  is  a  specimen  of  a  tortoise  that  com- 
mands tlic  naturalist's  attention.  Having  obtained  all  the  pos- 
sible light  upon  its  habits  in  nature,  and  its  geographical  distri- 
bution, and  every  fact  and  fiction  that  has  appeared  in  regard 
to  it  in  literature, — then  seize  upon  all  the  material  obtainable, 
enough  in  any  event  in  order  to  fully  exhibit  the  extremes  of 
variation  in  size;  the  sexual  characters;  the  eggs,  embryos,  and 
young  at  all  stages;  the  fossil  forms,  if  any  are  known;  and 
finally,  an  abundance  of  similar  material  representing  all  the  ap- 
parent allies  of  the  particular  form,  either  near  or  remote. 

With  this  before  one,  compare  and  inter-compare  all  of  its  ex- 
ternal characters,  be  they  of  whatever  nature  they  may.  Ke- 
study  its  habits  in  confinement,  and  its  physiological  functions 
as  far  as  they  may  be  observed.  Make  of  the  specimen  measure- 
ments, drawings,  and  photographs  to  an  extent  to  illustrate  all 
of  these  particulars.  Next  kill  a  series  of  specimens  with 
chloroform,  and  make  full  comparative  dissections  upon  these 
fresh  cadavers,  and  especially  with  the  view  of  ascertaining  the 
appearance,  relative  positions,  and  morphology  of  all  the  parts 
and  organs,  unaffected  by  any  preserving  fiuid.  Colored  draw- 
ings of  all  of  these  should  be  made,  and  then  a  similar  series  of 
specimens  be  consigned  to  a  preserving  fluid,  and  their  mor- 
phology be  re-examined, and  several  specimens  injected  (after  the 
most  approved  methods  employed  by  microscopists),  hardened 
and  stained,  and  then  ;ill  the  tissues  examined  by  means  of  a 
lower  power  lens,  as  well  as  mounted  sections  of  the  same  being 
made  for  a  complete  microscopical  examination,  with  the  view  of 
making  a  full  series  of  micrographs  and  colored  drawings. 
Having  accomplished  all  this,  we  are  prepared  to  use  our  labora- 


OF    THE    UNITED    STATES  27 

tory  notes  in  writing  out  an  account  of  the  species;  naming  it, 
if  the  form  be  unknown  to  science;  and  suggesting  a  place  for 
it  in  the  system.  This  is  simply  a  brief  outline  of  the  ideal  path 
along  which  a  biologist  works,  and  hints  as  to  the  methods  he 
adopts  in  his  researches.  Below  this,  his  studies  may  be  carried 
to  any  stage  of  completeness  he  desires,  and  I  have  known- of 
youthful  naturalists  who  have  accomplished  truly  remarkable 
results  by  means  of  the  most  rudimentary  appliances,  and 
scarcely  any  assistance  beyond  the  aid  of  a  text-book  or  two  in 
elementary  zoology. 

Fortunately  in  these  days  when  a  parent  discovers  that  a 
child  has  taken  to  capturing  snakes,  shooting  and  skinning 
birds,  drawing  and  painting  butterflies  and  beetles,  and  pos- 
sesses similar  traits  that  become  only  more  pronounced  through 
opposition,  the  road  is  very  clear  as  to  what  is  to  be  done,  for 
biology,  elementary  and  otherwise,  is  completely  woven  into  the 
very  tissue  and  substance  of  our  public-school  system,  and  the 
best  advice  to  be  given  in  the  premises  is  to  suggest  to  the 
principal  of  the  school  to  allow  that  particular  pupil  to  add  the 
elementary  course  in  biology  to  his  list  of  studies.  Time  will 
very  soon  demonstrate  whether  or  no  an  embryo  in  biology  is 
incubating.  Should  it  happen  that  one  is,  then  open  every  ave- 
nue to  his  or  her  requirements,  for,  indeed,  good  naturalists 
come  not  to  us  every  day,  and  biological  science  rejoices  in  the 
acquisition  of  capable  recruits  to  its  ranks.  Moreover  in  these 
days  there  is  abundant  room  and  occupation  for  them,  and  the 
world  is  wiser  and  better  for  their  coming.  Throw  the  books  and 
the  "paint-box"  and  the  dissecting  set  in  their  way,  and,  to  tell 
the  truth,  I  know  of  no  better  mental  training  for  any  career  in 
practical  life  than  the  one  offered  by  a  course  in  biology.  A 
large  share  of  success  in  life  depends  upon  good  powers  of  ob- 
servation, the  appreciation  of  the  experience  of  others,  and  the 
logical  application  of  these  two  combined.  If  a  boy  contem- 
plates a  course  in  medicine,  for  example,  fortunate  for  him  in- 
deed is  it  has  he  the  patience  and  understanding  to  obtain  a 
score  of  crayfishes,  and,  with  Huxley's  book  on  the  subject,  sit 
down  and  master  what  is  contained  in  those  common-sense, 
philosophic  pages,  for  should  he  do  so,  I  will  stake  my  life  upon 
it,  he  will  have  acquired  a  kind  of  knowledge  and  a  training  that 
will  stand  him  in  good  stead  at  every  stage  of  his  career,and  give 
him  a  preparation  that  will  easily  enable  him  to  outstrip  his  fel- 


28  CHAPTERS    ON    THE    NATURAL    HISTORY 

lows  in   tlu»  school  of  medicine  not  similarly  prepared,  to  say 
nothing  of  the  benetit  that  will  accrue  to  him  in  after  life. 

Things  were  very  different  thirty-five  or  more  years  ago,  in  my 
boyhood  time,  when  a  youth  who  gave  evidence  of  any  such  tastes 
was  commonly  considered  to  be  some  sort  of  a  juvenile 
crank,  with  a  dash  of  insanity  in  his  composition,  and 
his  father  was  advised  to  force  him  into  one  of  the 
prescribed  "professions,"  and  make  every  effort  to  eliminate 
i  lie  eminently  unpractical  streak  in  his  organization.  The  mi- 
croscope was  taken  away  from  him;  the  collection  of  plants  or- 
dered destroyed;  the  living  specimens  under  examination  made 
to  be  let  go,  and  the  "rubbish"  of  birds'  nests,  eggs,  skins,  and 
what  not  destroyed,  and  the  boy  with  the  "bent"  bent  sure 
enough  into  channels  for  which  he  had  no  taste  or  capacity. 
Thanks  to  the  present-day  methods  in  biology,  such  procedures 
are  fast  becoming  ones  of  greater  and  greater  rarity. 


CHAPTER  II. 

THE    CLASSIFICATION    OF   ANIMALS. 

(Taxonomy.) 

HEN  we  come  to  regard  this  earth  as  a  whole,  with 
everything  upon  it,  it  can  be  stated  that  it  is  made  up 
of  two  kinds  of  matter.  By  far  the  lesser  portion  of 
this  material  is  living  matter,  while  the  balance  is  not 
living  matter,  and  for  the  distinct  gap  separating  these  twro,  the 
biologist  knows  of  no  link.  Whatever  life  may  be,  when  it  ceases 
in  the  protozoan,  in  the  animal,  or  in  the  plant,  what  remains  is 
at  once  claimed  by  the  world  of  lifeless  matter,  and  is  thereafter 
subject  only  to  the  chemical  changes  of  either  disintegration  or 
of  decomposition.  Later  on  it  may  be  taken  up  again  into  living 
material. 

Now,  the  consideration  of  all  living  matter,  with  the  phenom- 
ena it  manifests,  falls  to  the  science  or  sciences  of  biology,  while 
the  dealing  with  dead  matter  belongs  to  another  distinct  cate- 
gory known  as  the  abiological  sciences.  The  science  of  zoology 
is  an  example  of  the  first,  and  geology  of  the  last.  Again,  we 
have  animal-life  and  plant-life;  organic  forms  and  non-organic 
forms;  and  so,  once  more  considered  in  its  entirety,  structures  of 
all  kinds  exhibiting  the  phenomena  of  life  are  divisible  into  two 
great  kingdoms — the  animal  and  the  vegetable.  As  we  pass  to 
the  forms  of  the  greatest  simpleness  in  either  of  these,  no  zoolo- 
gist or  botanist  can  with  a  steady  hand  draw  the  hard  and  fast 
dividing  line  between  them. 

Still,  this  has  been  attempted,  and  Dyer  has  truthfully  said  that 
the  "  fundamental  difference  which  separates  the  vegetable  king- 
dom from  the  animal  kingdom  is  to  be  found  in  the  modes  of  nu- 
trition which  obtain  in  each.  If  we  compare  a  plant  and  animal 
reduced  to  their  simplest  terms,  and  consisting,  therefore,  in 
cadi  case  of  a  single  cell,  i.  e.,  of  a  minute  mass  of  protoplasm  in- 
vested with  a  cell-well,  while  the  unicellular  plant  draws  its  nu- 
triment by  simple  imbibition  through  the  cell-wall  from  the  sur- 
rounding medium — a  process  which  implies  that  all  its  nutriment 
passes  into  it  in  a  liquid  form — the  unicellular  animal  is  able  to 
take  in  solid  nutriment  by  means  of  interruptions  in  the  con- 
tinuity of  the  cell-wall,  and  is  also  able  afterward  to  reduce  this 


30  CHAPTERS    ON   THE    NATURAL    HISTORY 

solid  food,  if  of  a  suitable  composition,  to  the  liquid  state.  And 
not  merely  is  tin-re  a  difference  of  this  kind  in  the  mode,  there  is 
also  ono  no  less  important,  although  less  general,  in  the  mate- 
rials of  nutrition.  While  under  present  terrestrial  conditions 
those  substances,  or  chemical  combinations,  which  are  required 
for  the  nutrition  of  animal  organisms  are,  as  far  as  we  know, 
nowhere  spontaneously  produced — that  is  to  say,  nowhere  apart 
from  the  influence  of  living  organisms — materials  derived  wholly 
from  the  inorganic  world  are  sufficient  to  sustain  directly  nearly 
the  whole  of  vegetable  life,  and,  therefore,  indirectly,  of  all  other 
life  as  well."  As  thus  differentiated,  then,  we  leave  the  dealing 
with  vegetable  life  and  plant-forms  of  every  description  to  the 
consideration  of  the  vegetable  physiologist  and  the  vegetable 
morphologist — to  the  botanist  in  the  widest  sense — and  briefly 
lake  here  into  consideration  only  scientific  classificatory  methods 
as  applied  in  the  animal  kingdom,  though  it  may  be  said  the  same 
principles  obtain  in  both.  In  biology,  the  term  taxonomy  is  now 
frequently  employed  for  the  word  classification.  Each  signifies 
the  same  thing,  however — to  fi.r  objects  or  material  in  some  defi- 
nite order;  to  (irruni/c  them,  or  it,  according  to  some  defined  plan 
adopted  for  the  purpose. 

In  all  classifications  we  base  our  arrangements  upon  the  re- 
semblances (limnologies)  or  non-resemblances  of  the  things  clas- 
sified. 

Biological  classification  follows  the  same  course,  and,  in  it,  it 
is  the  Ktrm-tHir  of  the  forms  under  consideration  that  is  taken 
info  account.  The  structure  of  animals  constitutes  the  science1 
of  morphology.  "But  morphology  means  nothing  more  than  what 
we  formerly  comprehended  by  the  term  anntouu/.  Anatomically, 
the  structure  of  organic  forms  is  considered  along  two  more  or 
less  distinct  lines;  the  one  being  "  gross  anatomy,"  or  all  that 
pertains  to  the  consideration  of  organs  and  parts  in  their  en- 
tirety; the  other  being  "minute  anatomy,"  or  nistoloyy,  wherein 
the  use  of  the  microscope  is  essential  to  its  prosecution,  and  the 
province  of  its  department  being  the  examination  and  compari- 
son of  the  ultimate  structural  detail  of  organs  and  other  parts.  . 

Topographical  anatomy  treats  of  the  crtcnnrt  form  and  parts 
of  animals,  and  may  be  studied  upon  the  living  specimens;  that 
branch  of  anatomy  dealing  with  the  internal  parts  usually  being 
undertaken  only  upon  the  dead  bodies  of  animals. 


OF    THE    UNITED    STATES  31 

Again,  living  animals  are  unceasingly  undergoing  a  change  of 
structure,  or,  in  other  words,  they  have  a  development;  and  this 
development  may  be  anatomically  considered  at  any  stage,  and 
for  any  fraction  of  time.  This  constitutes  developmental  anatomy; 
and  in  a  similar  way  we  have  the  province  of  developmental  his- 
tology. The  two  combine  in  a  special  branch,  or  that  of  embry- 
ology, or  the  early  stages  of  the  development  of  the  individual. 
Fossil  anatomy  takes  account  of  the  structure  of  the  remains  of 
extinct  animals,  and  incidentally  of  their  history  in  time.  This 
is  the  science  of  palaeontology.  The  facts  brought  to  light  by  the 
study  of  embryology  and  palaeontology  largely  assist  in  the  cor- 
roboration  of  a  natural  taxonomy. 

The  path  followed  in  a  natural  classification  of  animals  is  that 
one  which  first  takes  into  consideration  the  very  simplest  forms 
known,  and  passes  to  those  of  gradually  increasing  complexity. 
In  this  course,  structural  resemblances  constitute,  when  taken  as 
a  whole,  the  main  guide  and  basis,  checked,  as  ever  must  be  the 
case,  by  what  embryology  and  palaeontology  have  to  offer. 

In  writing  upon  taxonomy,  Huxley  has  truly  said  that  it  "  is 
conceivable  that  all  the  forms  of  life  should  have  presented  about 
the  same  differentiation  of  structure,  and  should  have  differed 
from  one  another  by  superficial  characters,  each  form  passing  by 
insensible  gradations  into  those  most  like  it.  In  this  case  tax- 
onomy, or  the  classification  of  morphological  facts,  would  have 
had  to  confine  itself  to  the  formation  of  a  serial  arrangement 
representing  the  serial  gradation  of  these  forms  in  nature. 

"  It  is  conceivable,  again,  that  living  beings  should  have  dif- 
fered as  widely  in  structure  as  they  actually  do,  but  that  the  in- 
terval between  any  two  forms  should  have  been  filled  up  by  an 
unbroken  series  of  gradations;  in  which  case,  again,  classification 
could  only  effect  the  formation  of  series — the  strict  definition  of 
groups  would  be  as  impossible  as  in  the  former  case.  As  a 
matter  of  fact,  living  beings  differ  enormously,  not  only  in  differ- 
entiation of  structure,  but  in  the  modes  in  which  that  differentia- 
tion is  brought  about;  and  the  intervals  between  extreme  forms 
are  not  filled  up  in  the  existing  world  by  complete  series  of  gra- 
dations. Hence  it  arises  that  living  beings  are,  to  a  great  extent, 
susceptible  of  classification  into  groups,  the  members  of  each 
group  resembling  one  another,  and  differing  from  all  the  rest,  by 
certain  definite  peculiarities. 

"  No  two  living  beings  are  exactly  alike,  but  it  is  a  matter  of 


32  CHAPTERS    ON    THE    NATURAL    HISTORY 

observation  that,  among  the  endless  diversities  of  living  things, 
some  constantly  resemble  one  another  so  closely  that  it  is  im- 
possible to  draw  any  line  of  demarcation  between  them,  while 
they  differ  only  in  such  characters  as  are  associated  with  sex. 
Such  as  thus  closely  resemble  one  another  constitute  a,  morpho- 
logical species;  while  different  morphological  species  are  defined 
by  constant  characters  which  are  not  merely  sexual. 

"  The  comparison  of  these  lowest  groups,  or  morphological 
species,  with  one  another,  shows  that  more  or  fewer  of  them 
possess  some  character  or  characters  in  common — some  feature 
in  which  they  resemble  one  another  and  differ  from  all  other 
species — and  the  group  or  higher  order  thus, formed  is  a  genus. 
The  generic  groups  thus  constituted  are  susceptible  of  being  ar- 
ranged in  a  similar  manner  into  groups  of  successively  higher  or- 
der, which  are  known  as  families,  orders,  classes,  and  the  like." 
And,  added  to  this,  it  may  be  said  that,  according  to  quite  similar 
principles,  we  create  the  intermediate  groups  in  nature,  or  those 
intended  to  contain  the  subspecies,  the  subgenus,  the  subfamily, 
the  suborder,  the  subclass,  and  also  such  others  as  the  superfamily 
and  the  superorder,  and  so  on. 

So  much  for  true  or  natural  classification ;  but  we  have  another 
kind,  differing  from  it,  however,  only  in  degree,  and  I  refer  to  all 
forms  of  artificial  classification.  The  artificial  classification  of 
living  forms  in  nature  depends  upon  the  selection  of  easily  ob- 
served* features,  most  frequently  external  ones,  as  bases  of  divi- 
sions by  means  of  resemblances  or  dissemblances.  It  is  likenesses 
in  both  instances,  but  in  the  natural  one  the  morphological  re- 
semblances are  taken  in  their  totality ;  while  in  the  artificial  one, 
external  characters,  often  only  appearances,  are  given  weight. 
To  arrange  living  forms,  in  other  words,  in  a  natural  classifica- 
tion requires  a  far-reaching  knowledge  of  morphology  on  the 
part  of  the  taxonomer;  while  an  artificial  one,  although  often 
convenient  in  some  few  particulars,  may  be  conceived  by  almost 
any  observer  with  common  powers  for  comparison  of  objects. 
All  birds,  for  example,  might,  in  an  artificial  classification,  be 
easily  placed  in  one  group  or  class;  lines  might  then  be  drawn 
upon  the  fact  that  some  birds  were  "  land  birds  "  and  others 
"  water  birds  " — ignoring  the  matter  of  structure  entirely— and 
by  similar  reasoning  make  minor  groups  of  "  diving  birds," 
"  scratching  birds,"  "  climbing  birds,"  "  perching  birds,"  and  so 
on.  All  this  can  de  done  as  a  matter  of  observation  of  habit 


OF    THE    UNITED    STATES  33 

rather  than  of  structure.  To  make  the  minor  groups,  however, 
structural  resemblances  of  an  easily  accessible  nature  would  next 
have  to  be  resorted  to,  as  shape  of  bills  and  feet;  number  of 
feathers  in  tail  and  wings ;  form,  color,  and  even  size,  might  also 
be  pressed  into  service.  In  such  classifications  affinity  becomes 
guesswork,  and  true  relationships  are  thrown  to  the  wiridsr- 

The  simplest  and  most  lowly  organized  of  all  known  animal 
forms  are  those  designated  by  biologists  as  the  Protozoa.  For 
the  most  part  they  are  composed  of  single  cells  of  living  matter, 
and  are  elementary  in  all  particulars.  Multi-celled  animals,  or, 
as  they  have  been  called,  the  Metazoa,  is  a  division  created  to 
contain  all  other  animals.  Spanning  these  two  primary  groups, 
we  have  certain  protozoans  in  which  simple  cells  are  massed  to- 
gether in  globular  form. 

The  next  most  general  morphological  fact  to  be  observed,  and 
which  can  be  practically  utilized  in  a  taxonomic  way,  is  that  the 
Metazoa  are  susceptible  of  division  into  two  primary  groups,  on 
the  basis  -that  in  one  set  we  find  the  animals  possessed  of  a  cen- 
tral axis  or  cord,  composed  of  either  jointed  osseous  segments  or 
vertebrae;  of  cartilage,  or  simply  of  the  notochord;  while  in  the 
remaining  set  nothing  of  the  kind  exists.  In  other  words,  we 
have  the  Invertebrata  and  the  Vertebrata.  But  the  latter  possess 
also  a  spinal  chord  and  brain,  hence  they  may  likewise  be  desig- 
nated as  the  Chordata;  the  invertebrate  group,  wherein  the 
nerve-cords  are  either  ventral  or  lateral,  are  known  as  the  Non- 
chordata.  Other  good  distinctions  also  exist. 

Here  again,  however,  when  wre  get  down  toward  the  simplest 
types,  we  meet  with  forms  that  approach  with  remarkable  near- 
ness the  lowest  ones  of  the  alternate  series.  That  is,  in  these 
cases  certain  invertebrates  approach  the  Vertebrata  in  certain 
features,  and,  vice  versa,  we  meet  at  the  very  starting  point  of  the 
vertebrate  series  with  most  puzzling  animals,  as,  for  example,  the 
Tunicata;  the  worm-like  Balanoglossus  and  Cephalodiscus,  and  the 
famous  Lancelet  (AmpMoxus). 

The  Protozoa  have  been  well  classified  into  their  main  groups 
and  subdivisions  by  biologists;  so,  too,  the  invertebrate  Meta- 
zoa have  been  similarly  dealt  with,  and  we  meet  therein  with 
more  or  less  natural  divisions  created  to  contain  the  Sponges 
(For  if  era)  ;  the  jelly-fish,  hydroids,  and  their  allies  (Coslenterata) ; 
the  Worms  (Yermes) ;  the  starfish,  etc.  (EcMnodermata) ;  the 
shelled  animals  (Mollusca),  and  other  groups  for  crustaceans, 


34  CHAPTERS    ON    THE    NATURAL    HISTORY 

myriopods,  insects,  spiders,  and  the  various  allies  of  these,  living 

and  extinct. 

Passing  to  the  Vertebrata,  we  meet  at  the  very  threshold  of 
this  phylum,  as  stated  above,  forms  in  regard  to  the  taxonomy 
of  which  biologists  by  no  means  hold  a  unanimous  opinion.  I 
am  inclined  to  think,  however,  that  waiving  such  little  violence 
as  may  be  done,  in  any  particular  instance,  the  gain  for  conven- 
ience and  classificatory  simplicity  will  so  far  outweigh  it  that,  in 
the  light  of  future  research,  not  only  will  AmpMoxus,  the  Tuni- 
ruta,  and  Balanoglossus  be  admitted,  with  Cuvier's  Vertebrata,  in 
the  phylum  Vertebrata,  but  both  Gephalodiscus,  as  well  as  Rhab- 
dopleura,  will  be  placed  there,  associating  them  with  Balanoglos- 
sus. Granting  the  admission  of  these  three  groups  as  the  Geph- 
alochorda  (Ampliioxus),  the  Urochorda  (Tunicata),  and  the  Hemi- 
rtiorda  (Balanoglossus),  Vertebrata,  as  the  Graniata,  will  stand 
as  a  fourth  one,  the  whole  constituting  the  great  phylum  of  the 
VERTEBRATA. 

The  GRANIATA  may  be  primarily  divided  into  two  main  divi- 
sions, the  first,  the  Gyclostomata,  including  the  hagfishes  (Myx- 
inc)  and  the  lampreys  (Petromyzon).  They  are  limbless,  scale- 
less,  round-mouthed,  almost  jawless  forms  that  lead  up  to  the 
fishes. 

The  second  division  of  the  Craniata — the  Gnathostomata — in- 
cludes the  main  vertebrate  groups  of  Fishes,  Amphibians,  Rep- 
tiles, Birds,  and  Mammals.  In  a  brief  chapter,  such  as  the  one  1 
am  now  writing,  it  becomes  out  of  the  question  to  discuss  the 
minor  divisions  of  these  great  groups,  much  less  the  morphologi- 
cal considerations  upon  which  they  are  based.  I  must  not  neg- 
lect to  point  out,  however,  that  Birds  are  linked  to  Reptiles 
(Sauropsida),  as  are  Fishes  linked  to  Amphibians  (Ichthyopsida). 
many  extinct  forms  corroborating  the  two  alliances. 


CHAPTER  III. 

SOME    INTERESTING    INSECTS,    WITH    NOTES    ON    THE    CLASS. 

(Insecta.) 

NE  of  the  great  kingdoms  in  organic  nature  are  the 
Invertebrata, — invertebrates  being  animals  without  a 
vertebral  column,  and  in  this  at  least  are  distin- 
guished from  the  Vertebrata,  or  vertebrated  animals 


possessing  a  vertebral  column  or  spine,  it  constituting  in  them 
the  median  part  of  an  osseous  or  cartilaginous  skeleton.  Ar- 
rayed as  one  of  the  divisions  of  the  Invertebrata,  we  find  the 
Arthropoda, — joint-footed  forms,  including  the  Class  Insecta  (In- 
sects), the  largest  one  of  all,  as  well  as  the  Classes  Arachnida, 
Crustacea,  and  Myriopoda. 

As  distinguished  from  a  crustacean  (crabs,  lobsters,  etc.), 
from  an  arachnid  (spiders,  etc.),  and  from  a  myriopod  (centipedes, 
etc.),  a  true  insect  never  has  more  than  six  legs;  two  antenna; 
distinct  head,  thorax,  and  abdomen,  with  commonly  two  pairs  of 
wings,  and  certain  peculiarities  in  the  organs  and  function  of 
respiration.  There  are  at  least  a  million  different  species  of  in- 
sects in  the  world,  and  they  occur  in  every  known  part  of  it.  Not 
more  than  a  quarter  of  a  million  of  the  earth's  existing  insect 
fauna  has  as  yet  been  described,  however,  and  thousands  of  vol- 
umes still  remain  to  be  written  upon  their  biology.  Fossil  in- 
sects occur  as  early  as  the  Devonian,  and  from  this  they  lead  up 
to  the  present  era,  becoming  more  and  more  like  the  groups  now 
in  existence.  Many  species  have  been  preserved  in  amber,  which 
is  a  fossil  resin, as  well  as  in  gum  copal;  the  former  being  usually 
extinct  types,  while  the  latter  agree  as  a  rule  with  the  species 
still  in  existence.  Some  insects,  such  as  certain  ants  and  bees, 
may  have  a  duration  of  life  extending  over  seven  or  eight  years; 
such  species  as  the  May-flies,  on  the  other  hand,  have  a  duration 
of  life  not  exceeding  twenty-four  hours.  The  period  of  existence 
in  numerous  species  is  greatly  affected  by  the  temperature;  cold 
increasing  the  duration  and  heat  diminishing  it.  Many  insects 
are  of  vast  economic  importance  to  man;  while  in  the  economy 
of  nature,  especially  in  the  matter  of  the  fertilization  of  plants, 
they  play  no  less  an  important  role. 

M'Lachlan  remarks  that  among  "the  varied  relations  of  insects 


36  CHAPTERS    ON    THE    NATURAL    HISTORY 

to  other  classes  of  the  animal  kingdom  and  their  mutual  rela- 
tions, no  subject  is  more  interesting  than  is  that  of  parasitism. 
It  occurs  in  almost  all  the  orders,  but  in  very  different  degrees. 
Whole  groups  are  naturally  epizoic,  others  entozoic,  while  a  few 
(such  as  fleas  and  bed-bugs)  can  scarcely  be  arranged  in  either  of 
these  divisions,  inasmuch  as,  although  in  one  sense  epizoic,  it  ap- 
pears probable  that  they  may  occasionally  be  able  to  go  through 
the  whole  of  their  life  cycle  without  contact  with  the  animals  to 
which  they  otherwise  appear  especially  attached."  This  is  avery 
large  and  far-reaching  subject,  really  a  special  department  of  en- 
tomology, and  one,  in  some  of  its  aspects,  of  great  economic  im- 
portance, and  purely  scientific  in  others. 

Xot  a  few  insects  are  endowed  with  luminous  powers,  such  as 
the  fire-flies,  cucullos,  and  some  of  the  larval  forms.  The  study 
of  this  extraordinary  property  is  likewise  deserving  of  the  closest 
attention  of  the  student.  A  variety  of  insects  puncture  all  the 
various  parts  of  trees  and  plants,  giving  rise  to  peculiar  growths 
known  as  galls',  but  why  these  growths  take  place  there  has  as 
yet  been  no  satisfactory  explanation. 

The  anatomy,  classification,  and  geographical  distribution  of 
the  insects  found  even  within  the  boundaries  of  this  country  are, 
each  and  all,  altogether  too  extensive  subjects  to  be  touched 
upon  in  a  brief  popular  chapter  about  them,  so  the  remainder  of 
my  space  I  will  devote  to  short  accounts  of  some  special  forms. 
Spiders  and  their  allies,  for  example,  constitute  a  very  large 
group  of  insects;  indeed,  naturalists  have  created  an  entire  sub- 
class to  contain  them.  They  are  designated  as  the  Arachnida, 
and,  as  thus  assembled,  not  only  all  the  hosts  of  spiders  in  the 
world  are  included  in  it,  but  also  their  near  kin,  the  scorpions, 
mites,  daddy-long-legs,  and  the  like.  Much  is  already  known 
about  them;  about  their  habits  and  geographical  distribution; 
about  their  physiology  and  structure,  and  a  great  deal  else. 
Scientists  have  written  many  treatises  about  them,  and  a  great 
many  have  been  beautifully  drawn,  colored,  and  given  to  the 
world  on  handsome  plates.  Yet,  notwithstanding  all  this,  it  may 
be  said  that  we  have  barely  gained  an  insight  of  what  we  really 
ought  to  know  about  them  and,  in  the  ages  to  come,  no  doubt 
will.  An  entire  history  of  this  great  sub-class  of  insects  would 
m:ik<*  a  large  library  of  itself,  and  men  have  lived  who  have  de- 
voted their  wlio]<-  lives  to  the  study  of  only  certain  families  of 
spiders.  Many  vears  ago,  the  writer  had  a  good  friend  who  was 


OF    THE    UNITED    STATES  37 

an  astronomer,  and  who  had  a  private  observatory  near  his  resi- 
dence. This  gentleman  once  placed  a  species  of  spider  in  the 
distant  end  of  the  tube  or  barrel  of  his  telescope,  and  for  several 
days  he  unceasingly  studied  the  insect  as  it  created  its  beautiful 
web.  It  was  one  of  those  rayed  webs  made  in  one  plane,  and  my 
friend  was  curious  to  know  if  there  were  either  certain^  figures  or 
angles  used  in  its  construction — in  fact,  was  the  spider's  net 
built  upon  a  definite  geometrical  plan — and  he  came  to  the  con- 
clusion it  was  not.  His  study  well  repaid  him,  however,  for  he 
acquired  a  very  considerable  knowledge  of  how  the  spider  fas- 
tened its  web  together,  and  the  plan  it  was  apparently  built  upon. 
Any  intelligent  observer,  by  the  aid  of  a  lens,  can  gain  a  good 
deal  of  information  about  how  spiders  form  their  beautiful  webs. 
By  holding  the  insect  properly  the  thread  may  be  drawn  out,  and, 
in  the  common  garden  spider,  for  example,  it  will  be  seen  to  issue 
from  a  set  of  very  remarkable  organs  at  the  under  side  of  the  dis- 
tal extremity  of  the  abdomen.  These  are  called  the  spinnerets. 
There  may  be  as  many  as  a  half  a  dozen  of  these,  while  at  the 
apex  of  each  there  are  to  be  seen  upward  of  a  thousand  tubulets 
from  which  the  separate  filaments  issue.  So  that  the  delicate 
silken  thread  as  it  is  spun  consists  of  several  thousand  strands, 
and  it  is  manufactured  in  a  set  of  special  glands  at  he  base  of  the 
spinnerets.  At  first  it  is  in  a  fluid  form,  viscid  and  tenacious; 
but  when  exposed  to  the  air  it  quickly  hardens  to  form  the 
thread.  This  last,  the  spider,  by  the  aid  of  his  hinder  pair  of  feet, 
fastens  to  some  object,  which  is  easily  effected  by  its  adhesive 
qualities.  Then,  as  he  moves  away,  the  thread  is  formed  and 
drawn  out.  The  manufacture  of  this  material  is  of  the  greatest 
use  and  importance  to  these  wonderful  insects.  Some  use  it  to 
make  their  webs;  some  to  enshroud  their  victims  captured  for 
food;  others  to  construct  trap-doors  to  various  kinds  of  subter- 
ranean passages.  By  means  of  this  thread  spiders  are  allowed 
to  lower  themselves  down  from  heights;  others  float  in  the  air 
by  it;  some  swing  by  it  across  small  streams  or  ditches;  and  they 
put  it  to  a  variety  of  other  uses.  While  out  in  my  garden  last 
summer  I  captured  a  great,  big,  dark-brown,  hairy  spider,  that 
with  ease  made  good  headwray  over  the  ground,  water,  lily-pads, 
and  anything  on  the  surface.  She  carried  with  her  a  round  ball, 
double  the  size  of  a  buck-shot,  which,  when  opened,  was  found  to 
be  filled  with  hundreds  of  young  spiders.  Originally,  these  were 
eggs  and  the  mother  spun  over  them  this  round,  silken  case.  In 


38  CHAPTERS    ON    THE    NATURAL    HISTORY 

this  they  had  hatched,  as  iny  examination  showed.  Bringing  out 
iny  camera,  I  obtained  a  fine  photograph  of  this  specimen  as  it 
ran  over  a  little  rocky  ledge,  and  a  copy  of  this  is  offered  here  to 
show  the  reader  exactly  how  she  looked.  This  species  belongs 
to  the  family  Lycosidw,  and  is  common  in  Maryland  and  other 
localities  of  Eastern  United  States.  In  certain  parts  of  the  trop- 
ics there  are  spiders  of  great  size,  and  these  species  spin  a  web  of 
no  little  strength;  strong  enough,  indeed,  to  entangle  small  birds 
that  have  unwittingly  flown  against  its  meshes.  We  are  all 
familiar,  of  course,  with  the  peculiar  cloth-like  web  built  usually 
in  corners  and  elsewhere,  by  the  common  house-spider,  and  how 
he  runs  out  from  the  funnel-shaped  angle  of  it,  to  capture  insects 
that  may  alight  upon  its  urface.  All  sorts  of  "cobwebs''  consti- 
tute other  weavings  of  these  tireless  spinners,  and  there  is  an- 
other family  of  these  insects  that  are  divers  by  nature.  They 
weave  remarkable  little  dome-shaped  domiciles  under  water,  and 
into  these  they  dive  with  their  captured  victims.  All  spiders 
are  aerial  respirers,  so  that  these  forms  have  a  way  of  filling  their 
subaqueous  structures  with  air,  by  carrying  down  globules  of  it 
entangled  in  the  longest  hairs  of  their  highly  pubescent  bodies. 

Dr.  Glaus,  of  Vienna,  tells  us  that  all  spiders  "  are  predacious, 
and  suck  the  juices  of  other  insects;  nevertheless,  the  manner  in 
which  they  get  possession  of  their  prey  varies  much,  and  often 
indicates  the  possession  of  highly  developed  instincts.  The  so- 
called  vagrant  spiders  do  not,  as  a  rule,  form  nets  to  catch  their 
prey,  but  use  the  secretion  of  the  spinning  glands  only  to  line 
their  hiding-places,  and  to  make  their  ovisacs.  They  catch  their 
prey  either  by  running  after  it,  or  by  springing  on  it.  Most 
spiders  rest  in  the  daytime,  and  go  out  for  prey  in  the  dusk  or  in 
the  night-time.  Many  vagrant  spiders,  however,  hunt  in  the  day- 
time, even  when  the  sun  is  shining."  There  is  another  very  re- 
markable thing  about  the  Dolomedes  shown  in  my  illustration, 
and  it  is  that  the  females  are  larger  than  the  males,  and  more 
powerful.  Other  species  may  occupy  their  webs  near  each  other 
in  peace,  or  even  temporarily  a  web  in  common,  but  this  is  by  no 
means  always  the  case,  for  at  other  times  the  female  will  lie  in 
ambush  for  her  partner  and  kill  and  devour  him  with  quite  as 
much  relish  as  she  does  other  insects.  Not  only  this,  but  she 
will  accomplish  th<«  same  fiendish  purpose  while  he  is  in  the  very 
act  of  fulfilling  his  duties  toward  her  as  her  mate,  or  immedi- 
ately thereafter.  The  male  is  well  aware  of  this  dangerous  trait 


OF    THE    UNITED    STATES 


41 


on  the  part  of  his  spouse,  and  consequently  only  undertakes  to 
enter  upon  his  amours  with  a  due  amount  of  caution. 

The  bite  of  some  spiders  is  dangerous  and  extremely  poison- 


FIG.  2. 


THE  WHIP-TAILED  SCORPION.     (Thelyphonus  giganteus.) 

Natural  size,  from  life,  by  the  author. 


ous;  when  inflicted  in  the  case  of  small  animals  it  often  causes 
almost  immediate  death.  This  is  a  bite,  however,  and  not  a 
sting,  as  in  the  case  of  their  near  cousins,  the  scorpions.  The 
latter  are  connected  with  the  spiders  by  a  very  remarkable  in- 


42  CHAPTERS    ON    THE    NATURAL    HISTORY 

sect,  found  in  certain  parts  of  Southwestern  United  States  and 
in  Mexico.  This  scorpion-like  looking  spider  (see  figure)  is  called 
the  "Whip-tailed  Scorpion,"  or  the  "Vinigaroon,"  and  is  greatly 
dreaded  by  the  people  living  in  the  countries  where  it  occurs. 
When  in  New  Mexico  I  obtained  several  specimens  of  this  insect, 
and  of  one  of  them  I  made  an  accurate  drawing,  which  is  shown 
here  in  the  illustration.  The  bite  of  this  insect  is  poisonous,  but 
I  have  never  heard  of  a  case  where  it  has  proved  fatal  in  the  case 
of  man.  Its  tail  is  but  a  feeble  lash,  and  structurally  very  differ- 
ent from  the  tail  of  a  true  scorpion.  It  is  one  of  the  largest  in- 
sects we  have  in  this  country,  yet  contributions  to  its  life-history 
are  very  much  needed  by  entomologists. 

We  must  not  believe  that  spiders  are  altogether  lacking  in 
anything  to  recommend  them,  for  most  all  of  them  possess  a  very 
great  attachment  for  their  young,  while  the  two  sexes  in  son?./, 
species  often  live  together  in  great  harmony,  even  peacefully  oc- 
cupying the  same  web.  Many  spiders  will  go  for  a  long  time, 
even  months,  without  food,  but  when  this  is  plenty,  their  great 
voracious  propensities  are  quickly  exhibited.  Spiders  are  often 
very  curiously  formed,  while  some  of  the  so-called  " jumping 
spiders"  are  most  brilliantly  colored.  In  the  case  of  nearly  all 
of  them,  they  are  both  crafty  and  skillful  in  attacking  and  cap- 
turing their  prey,  and  many  of  them  possess  an  intelligence  quite 
equal  to  that  exhibited  on  the  part  of  some  ants.  Speaking  of 
ants  reminds  me  of  those  interesting  cases  of  "protective  mim- 
icry" in  spiders,  for  in  Brazil,  in  certain  localities,  there  are 
species  of  ants  and  species  of  spiders  so  much  alike  that  the  ordi- 
nary observer  can  by  no  means  tell  them  apart.  Some  species 
again  closely  resemble  beetles,  or  even  certain  small  mollusks, 
and  there  is  one  species  so  much  like  a  little  crab  that  most  peo- 
ple would  declare  it  was  a  crab.  Certain  insectivorous  birds 
often  feed  upon  spiders,  but  other  spiders  are  so  protected  by 
spiny  outgrowths,  or  are  incased  in  dense  horny  armor,  that  the 
feathered  denizens  of  the  air  let  them  severely  alone.  Many 
reptiles  and  small  mammals  feed  upon  these  insects,  while 
spiders  kill  and  devour  each  other,  and  other  insects  also  kill 
them.  When  collecting,  years  ago,  in  Louisiana,  I  found  that 
one  of  the  best  places  to  look  for  spiders  was  in  the  newly  formed 
nests  of  the  so-called  "mud-daubers," — a  kind  of  wasp.  These  in- 
sects stung  spiders,  paralyzed  them,  and  then  sealed  them  up  in 
their  nests  as  a  food-supply  for  their  young.  Spiders  are  great 


OF   THE    UNITED    STATES  43 

drinkers  of  water,  and  feel  the  loss  of  that  fluid  very  severely; 
this  can  be  easily  tested  by  depriving  one  of  it,  and  then  placing 
some  within  its  reach.  The  insect  will  plump  up  imediately  after 
it  has  had  a  good  draught. 

In  concluding  this  brief  account  I  must  tell  you  that  a  great 
many  fossil  spiders  have  been  found,  even  as  far  back  as  the  coal 
formation.  Some  of  the  very  best  of  these  have  been  preserved 
in  amber,  which,  as  has  been  stated,  is  but  a  fossilized  resinous 
germ  of  the  ancestors  of  our  coniferous  trees.  Even  now,'  this 
process  can  be  easily  studied  in  any  pine  forest,  for  spiders  still 
continue,  as  of  old,  to  run  up  and  down  such  trees,  and  when 
they  become  entangled  in  the  clear  exuding  gum,  they  often  be- 
come completely  embalmed  in  time  by  the  same  material  flooding 
over  them.  Time  and  fossilation  does  the  rest. 

Let  us  now  consider  some  other  group  of  this  division  of  inver- 
tebrate forms,  and  it  may  be  remarked  that  books  and  papers  to 
the  extent  of  a  small  library  have  been  published  upon  those 
truly  remarkable  insects  known  as  Dragon-flies,  or,  as  they  are 
familiarly  called  in  this  country,  Devil's  Darning-needles,  and 
Horse-stingers  by  our  young  naturalist  friends  in  England.  Hun- 
dreds of  beautiful  lithographs  in  colors,  drawings,  cuts,  plates, 
and  engravings  throughout  entomological  literature  have  also 
appeared,  showing  the  vast  variety  and  extraordinary  forms  com- 
prising this  group  of  the  order  Neuroptera,  a  group  termed  the 
Odonata  by  Kirby  and  others,  who  divide  it  into  the  two  families, 
Libellulidce  and  Agrionidw. 

A  great  deal  has  also  been  written  and  printed  upon  the  mar- 
velous structure  of  these  insects;  their  strange  metamorphoses, 
their  habits  and  geographical  distribution,  much  of  which,  owing 
to  its  technical  nature,  cannot  be  touched  upon  in  the  present 
connection.  Moreover,  in  a  popular  work  this  will  hardly  be 
necessary,  as  probably  all  the  readers  of  this  chapter  are  familiar 
with  the  general  appearance  and  parts  of  any  of  our  typical 
American  dragon-flies.  There  is,  for  example,  in  the  Eastern 
United  States,  the  big  species  that  our  boys  and  girls  call  the 
Snake  Doctor,  firmly  believing,  when  they  see  it  hawking  about 
for  its  prey,  that  a  snake  lies  concealed  somewhere  in  the  neigh- 
borhood. Older  folk  call  this  insect  the  Mosquito  Hawk,  a  name 
more  in  keeping  with  its  habits.  Science  recognizes  two  species 
of  it,  designating  them  as  ^schua  heros  and  M.  grandis.  As  I 
have  said,  it  is  a  large  form,  and  frequently  gets  into  our  houses 


44  CHAPTERS    ON    THE    NATURAL    HISTORY 

in  the  summer  time,  greatly  frightening  the  children,  and  even 
(a  rryiug  dismay  among  the  grown  people.  The  posterior  part  of 
its  body  is  of  a  brilliant  green  color,  elegantly  marked  with  blue 
bands  and  spots,  while  its  great  eyes  are  truly  objects  of  wonder- 
ful beauty.  Then  there  are  our  pretty  little  species  that  are  ever 
to  be  seen  in  spring  and  summer,  flitting  among  the  plants  that 
grow  in  swampy  places  and  sluggish  streams.  One  of  these  is 
especially  striking — the  species  with  the  slender,  emerald-colored 
body,  and  the  ample  wings  of  jetty  black;  while  another  is  of  a 
gay,  bright  blue,  with  wings  like  gauze.  Another,  and  one  that 
has  always  been  a  favorite  with  the  writer,  is  the  species  de- 
scribed by  Count  De  Geer  as  Libellula,  trimaculata,  it  having  a 
chalky  white  body,  transparent  wings,  marked  in  the  male  by  each 
having  a  dark  patch  near  the  body,  and  a  more  extensive  area  of 
the  same,  covering  the  outer  part  all  to  the  tip.  Three  such 
deeply  clouded  patches  ornament  any  one  of  the  four  wings  in 
the  female  of  this  insect.  A  figure  of  this  species  is  presented 
herewith  (Fig.  3). 

Among  the  high  pine  lands,  in  the  month  of  June,  we  also  find 
another  species  of  this  genus,  Libellula  quadrimaculata,  having 
four  spots  upon  each  of  its  gauzy  wings;  and  then  there  is  that 
yellowish  red  fellow,  so  frequently  seen  hawking  over  the  quiet 
pools  and  ponds  during  the  same  time  of  the  year  (Diplax  ruM- 
cundula),  with  its  ally,  D.  Berenice.  But  we  can  refer  to  no 
others  here,  and  science  has  already  described  some  2,000  of  these 
insects,  occurring  as  they  do  in  nearly  all  parts  of  the  world. 

The  method  of  reproduction  among  dragon-flies  varies  some- 
what with  the  species,  and  we  have  yet  much  to  learn  in  regard 
to  it.  One  thing  is  sure,  however,  and  that  is,  the  gravid  female 
in  some  of  the  forms  either  lays  her  eggs  singly  or  in  masses, 
accomplishing  the  act  by  hovering  over  the  water,  and  suddenly 
dipping  the  apex  of  her  abdomen  into  that  element,  thus  ejects 
the  eggs,  which  slowly  sink  to  the  bottom.  Others  alight  upon 
the  stalks  of  certain  aquatic  plants,  and  backing  down  upon  these 
till  the  abdomen  is  well  beneath  the  water,  there  perform  the  act 
of  oviposition.  Still  others  deposit  beneath  the  water,  in  in- 
cisions they  make  in  the  stems  and  leaves  of  plants,  a  single  egg 
in  each,  effecting  the  necessary  cut  by  means  of  a  special  appa- 
ratus that  is  a  part  of  the  economy  of  the  insect.  Sometimes  the 
male  descends  with  the  female,  and  sometimes  two  of  the  latter 
sex  insert  their  eggs  into  the  stalklet  of  the  same  aquatic  plant. 


FIG.  3.     A  TYPICAL  DRAGON-FLY  (Libellula  trimaculatd). 

Natural  size.     From  a  Photograph  of  the  living  specimen,  taken  by  the  Author. 


OF    THE    UNITED    STATES  47 

Uhler,  a  very  close  observer  and  competent  entomologist,  has 
noticed  that  Libellula  "alights  upon  water  plants,  and,  pushing 
the  end  of  her  body  below  the  surface  of  the  water,  glues  a  bunch 
of  eggs  to  the  submerged  stem  or  leaf." 

These  eggs  are  usually  small  and  of  a  yellow  color,  while  in 
some  of  the  Agrions  they  are  of  a  bright  pea  green,  and^>ur  Eng- 
lish students  observe  that  in  this  group  the  females  have  been 
known  to  go  down  several  inches  beneath  the  surface  of  the 
water,  to  deposit  their  eggs  upon  the  stems  of  the  plants. 

When  summer  is  well  advanced  the  eggs  soon  hatch,  and  then 
the  larva  of  various  species  of  Dragon-flies  are  easily  to-be  ob- 
tained with  an  ordinary  dip-net  in  any  of  our  ponds  or  ditches. 
They  are  very  active  aquatic  insects  with  six  legs,  big  eyes,  large 
head,  and  powerful  jaws  concealed  by  a  facial  mask.  Constantly 
feeding  upon  the  larvae  of  mosquitoes  and  other  noxious  insects, 
they  perform  a  service  of  untold  good,  a  career  the  matured  flies 
carry  on  in  the  air  ever  afterward  until  the  day  of  their  death. 
In  fact,  of  all  the  insects  known  to  me,  none  can  in  any  way 
compare,  in  the  matter  of  the  amount  of  good  done  through  the 
constant  destruction  of  harmful  insects,  with  dragon-flies  of 
every  species  and  kind.  So  far  as  man  is  concerned,  the  entire 
life  of  any  one  of  these  insects  is  one  of  beneficence  of  the  mor 
pronounced  character. 

In  speaking  of  the  larvae,  Packard,  our  distinguished  entomolo- 
gist, has  said :  "Not  only  does  the  immature  Dragon-fly  walk  over 
the  bottom  of  the  pool  or  stream  it  inhabits,  but  it  can  also  leap 
for  a  considerable  distance,  and  by  a  most  curious  contrivance. 
By  a  syringe-like  apparatus  lodged  in  the  end  of  the  body,  it  dis- 
charges a. stream  of  water  for  a  distance  of  two  or  three  inches 
behind  it,  thus  propelling  the  insect  forward.  This  apparatus 
combines  the  functions  of  locomotion  and  respiration.  There 
are,  as  usual,  two  breathing  pores  (stigmata)  on  each  side  of  tht; 
thorax.  But  the  process  of  breathing  seems  to  be  mostly  carried 
on  in  the  tail." 

Perhaps  the  best  way  of  all  to  study  these  insects,  from  this 
time  on,  is  to  place  a  lot  of  them  in  a  good-sized  aquarium,  in 
which  some  small  reed-like  grasses  and  lilies  have  been  made  to 
grow.  This  I  have  done  many  times  as  a  boy,  and  what  I  then 
saw  has  never  been  forgotten,  nor  the  lesson  lost.  Here  we  may 
observe  how  the  larva  of  the  Dragon-fly  passes  into  the  pupa 
stage,  the  latter  differing  but  very  little  from  the  former  in  ap- 


48  CHAPTERS    ON    THE    NATURAL    HISTORY 

peurance,  aiid  with  habits  but  little  changed.  Simply  it  has  the 
four  rudimentary  wing-cases  somewhat  larger,  and  it  bears  a 
more  general  resemblance  to  the  matured  insect,  while  there  is 
scarcely  any  diminution  in  its  activity  or  in  its  ravenous  appetite 
for  all  kinds  of  aquatic  insects  and  their  Iarva3. 

At  this  time,  by  an  interesting  operation,  the  too-small  larval 
skin  is  molted,  and  the  soft,  delicate  pupa  emerges  therefrom, 
soon  to  attain  a  larger  size,  and  then  to  have  its  body  walls,  or 
external  skeleton,  harden.  Still  later  on,  or  along  some  time  in 
July,  these  brown,  often  hairy,  immature  creatures  are  seen  to 
climb  up  the  stalks  of  the  water  plants,  and  cling  thereto  by 
means  of  their  three  pairs  of  legs,  just  beneath  the  surface  of  the 
water,  or  in  some  species  above  it.  Then  follows  the  most  re- 
markable of  all  metamorphoses.  Down  the  middle  of  the  back 
there  suddenly  occurs  a  gaping  rent,  and  from  out  of  this, 
tediously,  the  tender  imago  of  the  Dragon-fly  emerges.  Flabby 
and  soft,  it  slowly  moves  higher  up  the  plant  stalk  upon  which 
the  pupa  had  climbed.  Here  it  listlessly  clings  for  an  hour  or 
more,  during  which  time  one  may  almost  see  the  insect  pass  to 
the  perfected  stage.  Its  wings  and  body  walls  harden,  the  beau- 
tiful tints  of  the  latter  gradually  become  evident,  and  complete 
maturity  soon  follows.  The  warm  sun  quickly  dries  its  harden- 
ing form,  intensifying  as  it  does  so  the  gorgeous  colors  as  they 
appear,  and  the  insect  is  soon  seen  to  rustle  its  elegant  wings,  be- 
stir itself,  test  the  powers  of  the  functions  of  some  of  its  various 
structures,  and  then  in  flight  launch  into  the  air. 

As  a  rule  the  duration  of  life  of  dragon-flies  is  not  long,  and  is 
made  up  of  their  incessant  consumption  of  the  many  insects  upon 
which  they  prey;  of  their  extraordinary  methods  of  mating;  of 
their  egg-laying,  shortly  after  which  they  perish.  M'Lachlan  has 
remarked  that  these  insects  are  "pre-eminently  lovers  of  the 
hottest  sunshine  (a  few  are  somewhat  crepuscular),  and  the  most 
powerful  and  daring  on  the  wing  in  fine  weather  become  inert 
and  comparatively  lifeless  when  at  rest  in  dull  weather,  allowing 
themselves  to  be  captured  by  the  fingers  without  making  any 
effort  to  escape.  Many  of  the  larger  species  (JEschua-,  etc.)  have 
a  habit  of  affecting  a  particular  twig  or  other  resting  place,  like 
a  Flycatcher  among  birds,  darting  off  after  prey  and  making 
long  excursions,  but  returning  by  the  chosen  spot." 

In  various  quarters  of  the  globe  superb  specimens  of  fossil 
dragon-flies  have  been  discovered,  and  doubtless  manv  more  of 


OF    THE    UNITED    STATES  49 

these  will  be  found  from  time  to  time.  ILL  closing  this  very  brief 
account — barely  a  word  as  compared  with  what  has  been  written 
about  these  insects — I  would  say  science  still  remains  in  total  ig- 
norance of  a  great  deal  that  pertains  to  them,  and  the  writer 
knows  of  no  chapter  in  the  entire  range  of  entomology  that  would 
better  repay  the  careful  study  and  observation  of  the  entonio- 
phile,  nor,  indeed,  a  group  from  which,  by  patient  research,  more 
information  could  be  derived,  which,  if  carefully  recorded,  would 
form  a  more  solid  contribution  to  knowledge. 

Another  very  interesting  group  of  insects  to  consider  is  the 
one  represented  by  our  common  Eear  Horse  (Stagmomantis  Caro- 
lina). These  insects,  known  under  a  variety  of  other  names  to 
be  hereinafter  mentioned,  are  predaceous,  and,  therefore,  of  bene- 
fit to  the  agriculturist.  They  have  a  remarkable  history,  and  a 
great  many  drawings  of  them  have  been  published.  The  egg 
cases,  similar  to  those  now  before  us,  have  been  figured  in  the 
fourth  volume  of  "Insect  Life,"  on  page  244,  while  on  the  preced- 
ing page  of  the  same  work  there  is  described  a  curious  insect 
parasite  of  these  eggs,  which  may,  with  interest,  be  read  in  con- 
nection with  the  former  account. 

Our  species  of  "Kear  Horse"  are  known  far  and  wide  in  those 
parts  of  the  country  where  they  occur,  and  many  who  read  this 
chapter  will  at  once  recognize  the  insect  from  the  drawing  I  have 
made  of  one  especially  to  illustrate  it.  Two  egg  cases  are  also 
shown  in  it  attached  by  the  insect  on  the  frame  to  the  left. 

They  have  been  called  "Bear  Horses"  from  the  manner  in 
which  they  hold  themselves,  and  the  position  of  the  anterior  pair 
of  legs,  giving  a  fancied  resemblance  to  a  horse  in  the  act  of  rear- 
ing. Another  name  by  which  they  are  even  better  known  is  that 
of  Mantis.  Mantis  is  from  the  Greek  word  meaning  "a  diviner," 
and  it  has  been  applied  to  a  genus  of  these  insects,  of  which 
Mantis  religiosa  is  the  common  form.  Hence,  also,  another  name, 
or  the  "Praying  Mantis,"  that  it  likewise  gets  from  the  devout 
attitude  in  which  it  continually  holds  itself,  and  its  solemn  as- 
pect withal.  We  shall  soon  see,  however,  that  these  insects,  as 
a  distinguished  entomologist  once  remarked,  "  are  not  the  saints 
but  the  tigers  of  the  insect  world."  In  one  country  or  another 
they  are  also  called  "soothsayers,"  and  "nuns"  or  "preachers," 
"  saints,"  and  similar  appellations,  which  are  simply  so  many 
more  titles  they  by  no  means  deserve.  It  was  endowed  with 
supernatural  powers  by  the  ancient  Greeks,  and  the  Arabs  as 


50 


CHAPTERS    ON    THE    NATURAL    HISTORY 


well  as  the  Turks  contend  that  a  Mantis  is  constantly  engaged  in 
prayer  with  its  face  turned  town  ids  Mecca.  In  some  parts  of 
Europe,  it  is  said  that  the  children  will  ask  a  Mantis  to  show 
them  the  way,  and  that  it  will,  with  one  of  its  forelegs,  indicate 


FIG.  4.     THE  PRAYING  MANTIS. 

Drawn  from  Life  by  the  Author. 


it  to  them  with  almost  invariable  exactness.  They  have  the 
greatest  faith  in  its  powers  to  do  this.  But  there  are  curious 
species  of  this  family  of  insects  found  in  many  parts  of  the  world, 
so.  there  is  no  end  to  the  legends  and  superstitions  concerning 
them.  A  form  found  in  Nubia  is  held  in  high  veneration  by  the 


OF    THE    UNITED    STATES  51 

people  of  that  country,  while  the  Hottentots  about  worship  a  lo- 
cal species  found  in  the  land  inhabited  by  that  race,  and  they 
look  for  no  better  omen  of  good  fortune  than  to  have  a  Mantis 
alight  upon  them.  It  indicates  a  token  of  saintliness.  Even  the 
priesthood  have  not  been  above  the  promulgation  of  similar 
myths,  for  they  say  of  St.  Francis  Xavier  that  a  Mantis  once 
lighting  upon  his  hand,  he  commanded  it  to  sing  the  praises  of 
God,  whereupon  the  dutiful  insect  loudly  intoned  a  very  beauti- 
ful canticle. 

An  old  writer  at  my  hand  says,  "The  warlike  disposition  of  the 
Mantis  is  put  to  a  curious  use  in  China,  these  insects  being  kept 
in  bamboo  cages  for  prize  fights,  like  fighting  cocks.  At  these 
exhibitions  two  of  them  are  placed  face  to  face;  they  raise  their 
wings,  their  bodies  tremble,  and  with  the  utmost  fury  they  rush 
upon  each  other.  They  use  their  long  forelegs  like  sabers,  giving 
blow  upon  blow ;  sometimes  the  fight  lasts  several  minutes.  The 
victor  then  devours  his  enemy,  which,  all  things  considered,  is  a 
much  more  rational  termination  of  a  duel  than  is  common  among 
men.  Were  it  introduced  into  the  human  code  of  honor,  and  the 
victor  required  to  eat  his  victim,  it  would  greatly  tend  to  do 
away  with  one  of  our  fashionable  barbarisms." 

On  a  number  of  occasions  the  present  writer  has  tried  this  ex- 
periment with  our  United  States  species,  and  they  will  fight  in 
exactly  the  same  manner,  the  victor  generally  biting  off  the  head 
of  the  slain  one,  and  devouring  a  portion  of  the  softer  parts  of 
his  body. 

If  the  reader  will  look  at  my  drawing,  he  will  see  that,  of  the 
usual  three  pairs  of  legs  possessed  by  the  Mantis,  in  common 
with  such  a  large  proportion  of  the  Class  Insects,  the  two  hinder 
pairs  present  us  with  nothing  very  unusual.  The  anterior  pair, 
however,  are  very  much  modified,  and  in  such  a  manner  as  to 
constitute  a  very  cruel  pair  of  weapons.  The  second  joint  is  so 
fashioned  that  it  can  close  into  the  third,  after  the  manner  of  the 
blade  of  a  penknife  into  the  handle.  The  margins  of  the  receiv- 
ing groove  of  the  third  joint  are  armed  with  strong,  movable 
spines.  The  tibial  or  blade  joint  also  has  a  sharp  serrated  edge, 
being  adapted  to  both  cut  and  grasp  with.  A  Mantis  can  extend 
and  strike  with  one  of  these  limbs  as  quick  as  a  flash  of  lightning, 
and  woe  betide  the  unfortunate  creature  that  comes  within  his 
murderous  clutch,  for  his  fate  is  sealed  beyond  all  peradventure 
of  a  doubt. 


52  CHAPTERS    ON    THE    NATURAL    HISTORY 

It  is  a  remarkable  sight  to  watch  one  of  these  voracious,  sanc- 
timonious-looking fiends  out  for  a  hunt  for  food.  A  number  of 
years  ago  I  kept  a  large  one  twenty-four  hours  in  a  box  without 
anything  to  eat.  The  next  afternoon  I  let  him  walk  out  of  his 
prison  onto  a  window-sill,  where  the  window-sash  was  down,  and 
a  dozen  or  more  large  iiies  had  congregated.  He  came  forth 
with  marked  deliberation,  and  with  a  dignified  mien,  as  though 
he  was  about  to  burst  with  rage  at  the  gross  insult  to  which  he 
had  been  subjected.  I  even  thought  I  could  detect  the  hate  in 
his  eye  as  he  glanced  obliquely  at  me,  as  his  curious,  quick- 
moving  little  head  turned  from  side  to  side  on  the  anterior  end 
of  his  elongated,  semi-erect  prothorax.  For  all  the  world  he 
looked  as  though  he  said,  "Were  I  big  enough  I'd  saber  you,  you 
scoundrel;  but  I'm  not;  and,  however,  I'm  too  hungry,  and  must 
get  after  some  of  those  flies  I  see  over  there."  Then,  with  an  ap- 
parent effort,  he  bottled  his  rage,  and  assuming  an  exceedingly 
devout  air,  with  his  murderous,  half-opened  forelimbs  held  in 
their  characteristic  devotional  attitude  in  front  of  him,  he,  with 
markedly  slow  and  mincing  steps,  betook  his  way  silently  down 
the  sill  close  to  the  sash.  Ever  and  anon  he  would  stand  motion- 
less as  I  patiently  watched  him.  He  would  then  cock  his  head 
from  side  to  side  in  a  vicious,  knowing  manner,  as  much  as  to 
say,  "  I  know  what  I'm  up  to,  but  those  flies  don't."  Just  then  a 
big  blue  one  lit  directly  in  front  of  him — zip,  flew  out  one  of 
the  fellow's  forelegs,  and  his  victim  was  seized  in  a  twinkling 
between  its  joints,  as  merciless  as  though  he  had  fallen  between 
the  sharpened,  miniature  blades  of  two  saws,  closing  together 
with  flashlike  rapidity.  The  other  leg  at  once  came  into  play  in 
steadying  his  capture  in  front  of  his  mouth,  and  the  fly  was  soon 
devoured.  Then  that  Mantis  cautiously  stalked  about  that  win- 
dow-sill until  every  fly  upon  it  had  fallen  a  prey  to  his  voracious 
appetite. 

In  nature  they  will  also  catch  and  devour  caterpillars,  grass- 
hoppers and  other  insects,  while  a  large  South  American  form 
will  even  take  lizards  and  frogs,  or  some  of  the  smaller  species  of 
birds. 

Some  of  the  foreign  species  have  their  wings  beautifully  modi- 
fied so  as  to  present  the  appearance  of  withered  leaves,  and  this 
mimicry  greatly  aids  them  in  deceiving  their  prey.  Bates,  the 
naturalist,  found  an  Amazonian  Mantis  exactly  mimicking  the 
white  ants  upon  which  it  lived,  and  the  distinguished  Wallace,  of 


OF    THE    UNITED    STATES  53 

East  Indian  fame,  describes  a  species  he  saw  in  Java,  that  closely 
resembled  a  pink  orchid  flower,  and  "is  said  to  feed  largely  on 
butterflies — so  that  it  is  really  a  living  trap,  and  forms  its  own 
bait!" 

Our  young  "  preying  beetles,"  when  they  are  hatched,  are  like 
the  parents  except  that  they  are  wingless.  These  insects  all  be- 
long to  the  MantldcB  of  the  order  Orthoptera.  They  do  not  all 
deposit  their  eggs  in  a  manner  similar  to  the  specimen  shown  in 
the  above  drawing.  I  have  a  good  figure  of  an  African  Mantis 
at  my  hand  that  makes  a  very  curious  egg-mass  (Monteiro's  An- 
gola), and  there  is  an  Australian  form  that  has  a  very  peculiar  ar- 
rangement for  depositing  its  eggs,  which  has  been  described  by 
Mr.  Webster. 

Although  these  insects  are  so  well  known,  it  should  not  deter 
us  from  making  still  further  investigation  into  their  biology 
whenever  good  opportunity  presents  itself,  and  thus  obtain  a 
better  knowledge  of  their  habits. 


CHAPTER  IV. 

CRAYFISH  AND  CRABS. 

(Crustacea.) 

RAY  FISH  and  Crabs  belong  to  that  very  interesting 
Class  of  the  Animal  Kingdom  known  as  the  Crustacea, 
being  arrayed  in  the  Subkingdom  Annulosa,  created 
to  contain  the  more  or  less  nearly  allied  groups  of  the 
insects  (Insecta),  the  myriapods  (Myriapoda),  and  the  spiders 
with  their  kin  (Arachnida).  In  a  more  restricted  sense  they  form 
the  division  Arthropoda,  or  the  Articulata  of  some  naturalists. 
In  this  country  a  great  many  kinds  of  them  occur  in  its  fauna,  as 
all  the  various  species  and  subspecies  of  crabs,  lobsters,  cray- 
fish, king-crabs  (Limuhts),  water-fleas,  besides  a  perfect  legion 
of  others,  to  which  no  common  names  have  been  given,  and  a 
host  of  fossil  forms,  such  as  the  trilobites  and  their  allies. 

There  is  a  very  voluminous  and  helpful  literature  extant  upon 
the  biology  of  the  Crustacea,  the  published  labors  of  many  able 
minds.  One  of  the  most  useful  books  known  to  me  on  the  subject 
is  Huxley's  "  Crayfish,"  and  it  will  give  the  student  a  very  clear 
idea  of  the  anatomy  and  natural  history  of  one  of  the  best  known 
members  of  this  group. 

Fully  examined  in  a  comparative  way  in  connection  with  the 
typical  allied  forms,  the  lobsters  and  crabs,  the  crayfish  will  lead 
to  a  general  knowledge  of  the  Class,  and  a  good  understanding 
of  the  habits  and  characters  of  the  widely  varying  forms  repre- 
senting the  many  different  orders  of  the  Annulosa,  apart  from 
the  insects,  spiders,  and  myriapods. 

Our  United  States  crayfish  belong  to  two  well-marked  genera, 
Cambarus  and  Astacus,  the  first  being  divided  into  five  groups, 
and  the  latter  genus  all  being  contained  in  a  single  group.  The 
most  able  and  thorough  work  upon  them  known  to  me  is  "  A  Re- 
vision of  the  Astacidfe,"  of  which  Mr.  Walter  Faxon,  of  Harvard 
College,  is  the  author.  This  fine  quarto  memoir  gives  a  very  com- 
plete account  of  all  the  crayfish  of  this  country  known  to  science 
up  to  the  time  of  its  appearance  (August,  1885).  Another  Ameri- 
can naturalist,  Professor  A.  S.  Packard,  of  Brown  University, has 
also  powerfully  advanced  our  knowledge  of  these  forms  by  his 
numerous  contributions  to  the  subject,  not  to  mention  Ihosc  of 


OF    THE    UNITED    STATES  55 

the  late  Professor  Cope,  and  of  Dr.  C.  C.  Abbott,  F.  W.  Putnam, 
H.  A.  Hagen,  S.  I.  Smith,  W.  F.  Bundy,  S.  A.  Forbes,  Ralph  S. 
Tarr,  and  W.  P.  Hay.  There  are  upward  of  a  hundred  different 
kinds  of  crayfish  in  the  United  States,  and  new  forms  of  them 
are  constantly  coming  to  our  knowledge.  In  the  U.  S.  National 
Museum,  the  crayfish  and  crabs  are  being  best  studied  by  Mr. 
James  E.  Benedict,  Mr.  Eichard  Rathbun,  and  Miss^Mary  Rath- 
bun,  and  there  is  a  large  store  of  material  illustrating  this  group 
in  the  collections  of  that  institution. 

The  general  form  and  appearance  of  a  crayfish  is  so  well  known 
that  no  special  description  of  one  is  here  necessary,  while  in  a 
brief  chapter  it  is  not  possible  to  enter  upon  the  highly  instruct- 
ive subject  of  the  anatomy  of  these  animals.  One  should  turn 
to  Professor  Huxley's  book  for  that,  where  it  is  given  in  great 
detail.  Of  our  common  forms,  the  ones  best  known  to  me  are 
Cambarus  diogenes  and  C.  bartonii  robusta.  The  first-named  I  had 
many  opportunities  to  study  in  Louisiana,  while  collecting  in  that 
State  many  years  ago,  while  Barton's  crayfish  I  found  in  the 
country  districts  about  the  City  of  Washington,  D.  C.  Both  of 
these  species  are  builders  of  the  so-called  "chimneys," — struc- 
tures that  have  given  rise  to  no  little  amount  of  speculation  as 
to  their  object  and  use.  Many  of  these  chimneys,  constructed  by 
C.  diogenes,  I  found  in  the  low,  flat  meadows,  south  of  the  city 
of  New  Orleans.  Here  they  were  usually  built  up  vertically, 
even  where  they  stood  on  the  sloping  banks  of  the  ditches,  and  in 
many  instances  the  taller  ones  were  seen  to  have  the  apertures 
at  their  tops  sealed  over,  and  this  condition  obtained  still  more 
commonly  among  those  of  lesser  stature.  The  sub-cylindrical 
passage  used  by  the  owner  of  one  of  these  "  chimneys  "  traversed 
its  entire  length,  and  down  into  the  ground  a  varying  distance 
below  the  level  of  the  latter.  When  very  low,  one  of  these  affairs 
reminded  me  more  of  a  mound  of  mud,  particularly  when  it  was 
sealed  over  at  its  entrance,  but  after  being  carried  up  to  a  greater 
height,  and  especially  when  they  were  open  at  the  top,  perhaps 
they  did  appear  as  much  like  little  earthen  chimneys  of  cylindri- 
cal form  as  anything  else.  Where  the  ground  was  dry  the  method 
of  construction  could  easily  be  observed,  for  they  were  evidently 
built  up  of  small  pellets  of  mud  laid  on  in  a  single  course,  while 
at  the  bottom,  by  the  pellets  rolling  down,  a  mound-like  base 
was  formed,  around  the  outer  boundary  of  which  numerous  loose 
pellets  were  scattered  about.  Where  the  ground  was  very  wet 


56  CHAPTERS    ON    THE    NATURAL    HISTORY 

the  pellets,  to  a  great  extent,  fused  together,  and  the  outer  sur- 
face of  the  chimney  or  mound  had  simply  a  nodulated  appear- 
ance, and  the  structure  was  much  longer  in  drying  out.  Various 
different  phases  were  to  be  seen  between  these  two  extremes.  I 
tried  to  dig  to  the  bottom  of  one  of  these  passages,  but  owing  to 
the  nature  of  things  in  these  wet  lowlands  of  Louisiana,  this  was 
not  feasible,  for  abundance  of  water  was  soon  reached,  and  to 
follow  the  course  of  the  passage  was  not  possible  by  any  ordinary 
means. 

Often  I  have  seen  the  crayfish  in  these  abodes,  and  have  cap- 
tured them  there,  and  I  once  caught  one  in  the  act  of  sealing  in 
the  top  of  its  chimney,  but  I  have  never  seen  them  at  work  dur- 
ing the  actual  building  process.  Mr.  Balph  Tarr,  who  has  writ- 
ten upon  this  subject  (Nature,  vol.  xxx.,  p.  27),  believes  that  the 
chimneys  result  from  the  excavation  of  the  burrow,  without  im- 
plying design  on  the  part  of  the  crayfish.  This  is  also  the  opin- 
ion entertained  by  myself,  while  Dr.  C.  C.  Abbott  holds  the  con- 
verse view,  as  does  also  his  nephew,  Mr.  Jos.  De  B.  Abbott,  who 
has,  by  the  aid  of  the  light  of  a  candle  at  night,  seen  the  crays 
engaged  in  building  their  chimneys. 

A  few  years  ago,  in  Southern  Maryland,  I  found  the  chimney 
of  a  Barton's  crayfish.  It  was  nine  and  a  half  inches  in  height, 
very  smooth  inside,  and  with  the  pellets  distinctly  individual- 
ized outside.  Many  of  these  were  piled  up  about  the  base, 
and  forty-two  of  them  had  rolled  out  beyond  the  latter.  It  was 
erected  on  level  ground  with  a  firm  turf,  and  about  ten  feet 
from  a  small  stream.  In  attempting  to  follow  down  the 
burrow,  water  was  met  with  at  fifteen  inches,  but  the  bur- 
row7 was  still  followed  for  twenty-seven  inches  more,  when 
it  passed  between  two  large  rocks,  too  large  to  move,  and  so 
rendered  further  progress  out  of  the  question.  In  a  few  nights 
the  cray  abandoned  this  site,  and  burrowed  again  close  at  hand. 
In  the  same  vicinity,  right  on  the  bank  of  the  streamlet,  I 
opened  another;  it  only  passed  down  eleven  inches,  when 
it  terminated  in  a  chamber  about  as  big  as  my  two  fists,  and 
placed  at  the  side.  It  was  below  the  water  level,  and  contained  a 
fine  living  specimen  of  C.  diogenes.  Beyond  this  was  a  low  mound 
in  wetter  soil.  Unlike  the  other  two,  the  top  of  this  one  was 
sealed  over,  and  the  pellets  nearly  all  run  together.  Upon  tak- 
ing this  one  up  in  my  hand  (it  is  before  me  now7  as  I  write),  I 
found  the  sealing-in  was  very  thorough,  and  the  top  as  thick  as 


OF    THE    UNITED    STATES  57 

the  side  walls.  Inside,  the  cylindrical  passage  was  as  smooth 
as  usual,  and  terminated  in  a  smooth,  concave,  hemispherical 
end. 

As  to  the  manner  of  building,  Mr.  J.  De  B.  Abbott  gives  a  good 
account  as  cited  by  Faxon.  The  crayfish  is  seen  to  emerge  par- 
tially from  its  burrow,  bearing  "on  the  back  of  its  right  claw  a 
ball  of  clay  mud,  which,  by  a  dexterous  tilt  of  the  Tlaw,  was 
placed  on  the  rim  of  the  chimney.  Then  the  crayfish  remained 
perfectly  quiet  for  a  few  seconds,  when  it  suddenly  doubled  up 
and  dropped  to  the  bottom  of  its  burrow.  There  elapsed  some 
three  or  four  minutes  between  each  appearance;  but  every  time 
it  came,  it  brought  a  ball  of  clay  and  deposited  it  in  the  manner 
I  have  described.  About  two-fifths  of  the  balls  were  not  placed 
with  sufficient  care,  and  rolled  down  outside  of  the  chimney." 
Professor  Faxon  remarks  further  that  "Dr.  Abbott  believes  that 
the  closing  of  the  orifice  of  a  chimney  is  merely  the  result  of 
accidental  falling  in  of  pellets  from  the  rim,  loosened  perhaps  by 
atmospheric  moisture.  In  some  localities  where  the  burrowing 
crayfish  abounds,  there  is  a  weather  proverb  to  the  effect  that, 
when  the  crayfish  closes  the  opening  of  his  chimney  in  dry 
weather,  there  will  be  a  rainfall  within  twenty-four  hours." 

So  far  as  I  am  aware,  it  is  not  known  yet  how  the  crayfish  seals 
up  the  orifice  of  his  tower.  Possibly  it  may  do  it  by  backing  up 
the  burrow,  and  by  turning  around  and  about,  manipulate  the 
moistened  clay  or  mud  into  place  by  the  use  of  its  lateral  tail-fins 
and  telson.  That  it  is  not  due  to  the  in-tumbling  of  the  loose 
pellets  on  top,  there  can  be  no  doubt,  for  in  the  specimen  at  hand 
the  top  of  the  sealed-up  part  is  as  thick  as  the  sides  (fully  an 
inch),  and  exactly  resembles  them,  while  the  closed  apex  of  the 
passage  inside  is  very  smooth  and  carefully  polished  off.  Why 
it  closes  in  its  tower  is  hard  to  tell.  It  may  be  that  finding  the 
orifice  contracting  too  much,  the  cray  seals  up  in  order  to  pre- 
vent the  upper  rim  of  the  tower  falling  back  into  the  burrow  ; 
it  may  be  in  order  to  shut  out  rain  or  rising  water;  it  may  be 
to  prevent  attacks  of  enemies  ;  or  it  may  be  done  while  the 
parent  is  laying  her  eggs  at  the  bottom  of  the  burrow.  This  all 
requires  further  observations  on  the  part  of  naturalists.  It  is 
surely  far  easier  for  a  crayfish  to  build  a  tower,  even  if  two-fifths 
of  the  pellets  do  roll  down  outside,  than  it  would  be  for  the 
animal  to  carry  all  the  pellets  away  from  the  mouth  of  its 
burrow,  and  submit  itself  to  capture  by  an  enemy  every  time  it 
passed  out  with  one.  In  short,  it  is  the  most  convenient  and 


58  CHAPTERS    ON    THE    NATURAL    HISTORY 

most  safe  way  to  get  rid  of  the  pellets,  besides  being  the  least 
troublesome,  and  the  method  by  which  they  are  the  least  likely 
to  roll  back  into  the  burrow. 

Why  crayfish  build  at  all,  I  think,  is  due  to  the  fact  that  they 
must  have  a  safe  place  to  lay  and  hatch  their  eggs,  and  also  a 
place  to  escape  at  times  from  their  enemies.  That  it  does  not 
always  effect  this  latter  will  be  seen  from  Audubon's  account 
of  the  towers  of  C.  diogenes  which  he  figured  in  the  plate  with  the 
White  ibis  (Vol.  vi.,  p.  57).  He  says:  "The  crayfish  often  bur- 
rows to  the  depth  of  three  or  four  feet  in  dry  weather,  for  before 
it  can  be  comfortable  it  must  reach  the  water.  This  is  generally 
the  case  during  the  prolonged  heats  of  summer,  at  which  time 
the  White  Ibis  is  most  pushed  for  food.  The  bird,  to  procure  the 
crayfish,  walks  with  remarkable  care  toward  the  mounds  of  mud 
which  the  latter  throws  up  while  forming  its  hole,  and  breaks 
up  the  upper  part  of  the  fabric,  dropping  the  fragments  into  the 
deep  cavity  that  has  been  made  by  the  animal.  Then  the  Ibis 
retires  a  single  step,  and  patiently  waits  the  result.  The  crayfish, 
incommoded  by  the  load  of  earth,  instantly  sets  to  work  anew, 
and  at  last  reaches  the  entrance  of  its  burrow  ;  but  the  moment 
it  comes  in  sight,  the  Ibis  seizes  it  with  its  bill."  It  would  ap- 
pear from  this  that  Audubon  did  not  believe  that  the  crayfish 
towers  were  structures  erected  upon  some  architectural  design  ; 
and  his  observations  further  go  to  prove  that  even  the  burrow 
does  not  always  protect  the  unfortunate  crustacean  from  its 
enemies.  I  do  not  place  much  credit  in  this  story  of  Audubon's, 
however,  for  to  fill  a  burrow  having  a  "  depth  of  three  or  four 
feet "  with  little  bits  of  mud,  from  a  mound  rarely  higher  than 
ten  inches,  would  take  an  ibis  the  best  part  of  two  hours;  then 
it  is  not  at  all  likely  that  all  the  pellets  would  go  the  bottom 
and  fill  the  chamber  there  existing,  even  were  the  burrows  per- 
fectly straight  and  vertical,  which  they  very  rarely  or  never  are. 
To  say  the  least  of  it,  Audubon,  as  a  naturalist,  was  very  imagi- 
native sometimes,  and  I  am  strongly  inclined  to  think  that  this 
ibis  story  is  simply  another  example  of  it. 

In  this  locality  (Washington,  D.  C.)  the  burrowing  crayfishes 
remain  under  ground  during  the  winter,  at  points  safe  from 
freezing.  This  they  do  in  a  torpid  condition,  coming  out  early 
in  the  spring,  after  the  cold  weather  is  well  by  ;  and  it  is  soon 
after  this  that  we  begin  to  notice  the  appearance  of  their  towers 
in  their  accustomed  places.  They  feed,  as  Huxley  says,  upon 


OF    THE    UNITED    STATES  59 

"larvae  of  insects,  water-snails,  tadpoles,  or  frogs,  which  corne 
within  reach  "  of  its  claws  as  the  animal  stands  at  the  entrance 
of  its  burrow.  Even  ik  the  water-rat  is  liable  to  the  same  fate. 
Passing  too  near  the  fatal  den,  possibly  in  search  of  a  stray  cray- 
fish, whose  flavor  he  highly  appreciates,  the  vole  is  himself 
seized  and  held  till  he  is  suffocated,  when  his  captor  easily  re- 
verses the  conditions  of  the  anticipated  meal." 

"  In  fact,  few  things  in  the  way  of  food  are  amiss  to  the  cray 
fish  ;  living  or  dead,  fresh  or  carrion,  animal  or  vegetable,  it 
is  all  one."  But  I  cannot  in  this  short  chapter  say  more  in  re- 
gard to  these  wonderful  little  animals;  my  space  will  not  admit 
of  it,  and  the  subject  is  a  very  large  one.  It  reads  like  a  good 
novel  in  Huxley's  celebrated  treatise  upon  the  group. 

Crabs  differ  from  the  crays  in  having  a  much  reduced  and 
shortened  abdomen,  that  would  easily  escape  the  notice  of  an 
ordinary  observer,  and  is  not  used  as  a  swimming  organ,  as  is 
that  part  of  the  economy  of  a  crayfish,  from  which  latter  they 
present  many  wide  differences  both  in  the  matter  of  structure 
and  habits,  though  "  attentive  examination  shows  that  the  plan 
of  construction  of  the  crab  is,  in  all  fundamental  respects,  the 
same  as  that  of  the  crayfish."  (Huxley). 

I  have  availed  myself  of  the  opportunities  to  study  many  kinds 
of  crabs,  in  not  a  few  countries,  and  a  great  many  parts  of  this 
country.  One  afternoon,  when  walking  up  over  the  steep  hills 
in  the  rear  of  the  town  of  Cape  Haytien,  Hayti,  my  attention 
wras  called  to  the  numerous  burrows  in  the  clayey  soil  upon  either 
side  of  the  roadway.  Further  along  in  the  forests  these  became 
still  more  numerous.  These  excavations  were  made  by  a  species 
of  burrowing  land  crabs,  belonging  to  a  genus  well  represented 
in  the  West  Indian  islands.  In  Jamaica,  for  example,  there  are 
thousands  of  them,  and  from  their  coloration  they  are  called  the 
Violet  land  crabs.  I  have  made  a  drawing  of  one  of  these,  and  it 
is  given  here  as  an  illustration  of  land  crabs  in  general.  They 
frequently  live  in  the  mangrove  swamps  and  subsist  upon  fruits, 
though  they  will  eat  almost  anything. 

About  the  graves  in  the  cemeteries  of  Jamaica  hundreds  of 
these  burrows  are  to  be  seen,  and  the  land  crabs  that  inhabit 
them  are  knowrn  to  go  down  and  feed  upon  the  corpses.  West 
Indians,  nevertheless,  eat  quantities.of  them,  but  they  are  very 
careful  to  capture  only  those  that  live  a  long  way  from  the 
burying  grounds.  The  natives  catch  them  in  ordinary  box-traps, 


60  CHAPTERS    ON    THE    NATURAL    HISTORY 

baited  with  a  fruit  of  which  this  land  crab  is  very  fond.  Often 
they  are  kept  alive  and  fattened  for  the  market.  Once  a  year 
these  Violet  land  crabs  form  in  immense  processions,  a  mile  or 
more  in  length  sometimes  and  over  100  feet  in  width.  In  this 
order  they  march  down  to  the  sea,  and  deposit  their  eggs.  At 
other  times  they  are  nocturnal  in  habit,  and  come  out  of  their 
burrows  only  to  feed  at  night.  Late  in  the  evening  I  have  seen 
them  sitting  at  the  entrances  of  their  subterranean  abodes, 
waiting  for  the  deeper  shades  of  night.  They  have  large,  power- 
ful claws,  which  they  use  with  great  effect.  After  taking  a  hold 
with  their  big,  merciless  pincer,  the  limb  suddenly  becomes  de- 
tached, and  while  you  are  doing  your  best  to  free  yourself  of  the 
instrument  of  torture,  the  crab,  minus  its  claw,  makes  off  to  its 
burrow. 

Another  very  interesting  crab  is  the  famous  Hermit  or  Soldier 
crab,  of  the  Atlantic  coast.  In  these  the  abdominal  portion  of 
the  body  is  soft,  and  to  protect  this  the  animal  runs  it,  tail  first, 
as  it  were,  into  any  dead  and  empty  shell  of  suitable  size  and 
spiral  form.  In  this  the  Hermit  lives,  with  only  his  fore  parts 
protruding,  until  he  outgrows  his  house,  when  he  quits  it,  to 
scramble  into  another  of  more  convenient  proportions.  The 
structure  and  habits  of  these  crabs  are  both  interesting  and  in- 
structive, and  a  great  deal  has  been  written  about  them.  Spider 
crabs  have  a  peculiar  growth  of  a  hairy  appearance  on  their 
backs.  Their  legs  are  long,  and  their  locomotion  on  land  ex- 
tremely awkward.  Most  of  their  time  they  spend  in  moderately 
deep  water,  and  I  have  often  taken  them  on  the  oyster  beds  of 
Long  Island  Sound,  and  the  fishermen  have  told  me  that  they 
play  fearful  havoc  with  the  oysters,  devouring  great  quantities 
of  them.  Fiddler  crabs,  of  which  thousands  upon  thousands 
lived  in  the  short  sea-grass  that  skirted  the  salt  water,  are  very 
interesting.  Such  places  were  literally  riddled  with  their  bur- 
rows, and  one  had  no  trouble  in  capturing  a  pailful  of  these 
fellows.  They  make  capital  bait  for  the  fishing  of  Black  fish. 
Fiddlers  are  small  crabs,  with  a  pair  of  very  unequal  pincer 
claws.  This  has  given  them  their  name,  for  the  larger  claw  has 
been  likened  to  a  fiddle,  and  the  smaller  claw  to  the  bow. 
Females  of  this  species  have  very  small  pincers  of  equal  size. 
Several  species  of  "  fiddlers  "are  found  upon  our  coast.  Speak- 
ing of  the  naming  of  crabs,  I  would  state  here  that  the  name 
"  crab  "  itself  is  derived  from  Carabua,  it  being  the  Latin  of  the 


OF    THE    UNITED    STATES 


61 


common  edible  species,  and  the  one  best  known  in  ancient  times 
to  the  Romans.  The  list  of  crabs  now  known  to  science  is  a 
long  one  indeed, 'and  they  are  found  in  suitable  localities  in 
nearly  every  part  of  the  world.  Most  of  us  are  familiar  with  the 
little  "  oyster  crab  "  found  in  those  bivalves.  The  adult  females 
of  this  diminutive  species  live  within  the  gill  cavities  of  oysters, 
while  the  males  usually  swim  about  at  large.  They  have  often 
been  described  by  naturalists  as  different  species,  and  there  has 
been  excuse  for  this,  as  the  sexes  are  so  essentially  different  in 
appearance.  Mussels  harbor  another  variety  of  these  tiny 
crustaceans.  The  question  as  to  how  these  little  creatures  orig- 


FIG.  5.     THE  VIOLET  LAND  CRAB. 

Drawn  by  the  Author. 

inally  came  to  take  up  their  abode  within  the  shells  of  living 
bivalves  has  not  been  settled. 

Englishmen  call  these  oyster-crabs  "  pea-crabs,"  and  they 
stand  among  the  smallest  representatives  of  the  group,  the  big- 
gest form  known  being  the  crab-giants  of  Japan,  which  are 
considered  a  delicacy  by  the  Japanese.  A  specimen  of  one  of 
these  has  pincers  each  five  feet  long.  Like  our  marine  spider- 
crabs,  its  triangular  body  is  not  large  in  proportion. 

In  the  islands  of  the  Indian  Ocean  they  have  the  "  robber 
crabs" — species  that  approach  the  lobsters  in  their  structure. 
But  instead  of  living  in  the  water,  they  burrow  at  the  feet  of  the 


62  CHAPTERS    ON    THE    NATURAL    HISTORY 

cocoauut  trees,  and  live  upon  that  fruit.  In  old  times  it  was 
believed  they  used  to  climb  the  trees  for  these,  but  such  a  theory 
has  become  obsolete.  Vhey  feed,  doubtless,  only  upon  the  fallen 
nuts,  and  two  opinions  seem  to  be  in  vogue  as  to  how  they  get 
the  meat  out  of  these.  Some  say  they  peel  off  the  cocoa-fiber, 
then  insert  the  piiicer  into  the  soft  "'  eye  "  of  the  fruit,  and  by 
turning  about  work  out  the  substance  lining  the  interior. 
Others  contend  that,  when  it  gets  its  claw  into  the  eye-hole,  the 
crab  pounds  the  nut  on  a  stone  until  it  is  broken  open. 

Kobber-crabs  line  their  burrows  with  the  cocoa-fiber  they  tear 
from  the  nuts,  and  the  natives  in  turn  rob  them  of  it  to  make 
their  mats.  These  crabs  also  yield  an  excellent  oil,  derived  from 
a  mass  of  fat  beneath  the  tail. 

"  Calling  crabs  "  are  remarkable  fellows  ;  there  is  a  species  of 
them  in  Ceylon  that  has  one  very  small  claw,  while  the  otlfer  is 
bigger  than  its  owner's  body.  When  approached,  this  specie? 
brandishes  its  ponderous  pincer  at  you  in  the  most  threatening 
manner  possible.  Less  timid  people  than  those  awed  by  this 
behavior  say  that  the  crab  is  simply  beckoning  to  you  to  advance, 
and  hence  the  name  that  has  been  bestowed  upon  them.  Ceylon 
also  has  a  "  racer  crab  "  that  the  inhabitants  have  long  voted  to 
be  a  great  nuisance.  Its  numerous  and  deep  burrows  made  in 
the  sandy  roads  of  the  island  have  to  be  continually  looked  after 
and  filled  up,  by  parties  employed  for  that  purpose.  Where  this 
is  not  done,  accidents  have  occurred  to  horses  and  vehicles. 

We  have  some  beautiful  species  of  crabs  on  our  Pacific  Coast, 
as  the  "Yellow  shore  crab"  and  the  "Purple  shore  crab.'' 
Chinamen  are  fond  of  these,  and  cook  them  by  stringing  them  on 
wires  and  hanging  them  over  the  fire.  Both  of  these  species  are 
very  numerous,  though  of  small  size. 

Several  years  ago  I  wras  fishing  off  the  coast  of  Connecticut, 
and  was  greatly  annoyed  by  dogfish  taking  my  hooks  and  bait. 
Finally  I  captured  one  of  these  troublesome  fellows,  and  opened 
him  to  find  my  missing  hooks.  In  his  stomach  were  some  four  or 
five  handsome  little  crabs,  with  very  hard  shells  and  thick  claws. 
They  were  specimens  of  what  every  one  there  called  "rock 
crabs/'  they  being  very  common  at  the  rocky  reefs  off  shore, 
when  the  tide  was  out.  In  Long  Island  Sound  we  also  meet 
with  the  "mud  crabs,"  the  "Jonah  crabs,"  and  the  "stone 
crabs,"  and  other  forms. 

Many  interesting  books  have  appeared  on  the  dovolopement  of 


OF    THE    UNITED    STATES  63 

crabs,  and  the  student  should  procure  and  read  these,  with  a  few 
species  of  crabs  at  hand,  represented  by  young  of  both  sexes. 


CHAPTER  V. 

SAWFISH,  RAYS,  SHARKS,  AND  THEIR  ALLIES,  WITH 
NOTES  ON  DEEP-SEA  FISHES. 

(ElasmobranchU,  etc.) 

GOOD  many  years  ago  there  used  to  be  in  the  town  of 
Key  West,  Florida,  a  remarkable  old  curiosity-shop, 
that  had  a  great  fascination  for  me  as  a  boy.  The 
man  that  kept  it  was  a  sort  of  a  taxidermist  in  his 


way,  and  in  his  musty  old  establishment  there  was  a  varied 
collection  of  odds  and  ends  of  marine  relics  that  greatly  inter- 
ested me.  And,  although  that  was  over  thirty  years  ago,  my  in- 
stincts as  a  naturalist  had  been  developing  for  several  years 
prior  to  the  time  mentioned,  and  I  can  very  well  remember  how  I 
enjoyed  being  permitted  to  examine  the  various  objects  he  had 
stored  awray  on  his  shelves,  or  heaped  up  about  the  place.  There 
were  jaws  of  great  sharks;  quantities  of  shells  and  corals; 
sea  weeds,  big  starfishes,  and  dried  crabs;  the  shells  of  turtles 
and  of  spiny  sea-urchins,  and  what  not  else.  Among  all  this 
bric-a-brac  from  the  depths  of  the  sea  there  were  to  be  noticed 
a  score  or  more  long,  flat,  oblong  bones  of  an  earthy  color,  with 
sharp,  outward-projecting  teeth  all  along  the  sides  at  near  and 
somewhat  irregular  intervals.  Some  of  these  double-sawlike 
looking  affairs  were  over  four  feet  long,  while  others  ranged  all 
the  way  down  until  they  came  to  be  only  a  foot  or  more  in  length. 
It  was  the  source  of  no  little  wonderment  to  me,  then,  as  to  what 
kind  of  an  animal  such  an  extraordinary  weapon  could  possibly 
belong,  and  I  am  quite  sure  now  that  were  this  remarkable  tooth- 
armed  blade  known  only  from  a  fossil  one,  and  the  remainder  of 
the  animal  not  known,  it  would  by  no  means  be  every  one  who 
would  suspect  its  having  belonged  to  a  fish.  My  Key  West  friend 
seemed  quite  familiar  with  the  subject,  however,  and  soon  told 
me  that  it  was  the  "  saw  "  of  the  sawfish  that  excited  my  curios- 
ity, and  before  I  left  Florida  and  Florida  waters,  doubtless  I 
would  see  a  number  of  these  fish  alive.  His  prediction  was  in 
part  fulfilled,  for  upon  one  or  two  occasions,  at  least,  I  have  had 
the  opportunity  to  study  the  sawfish  in  nature.  They  are  not 
uncommon  upon  the  coasts  of  the  peninsula,  while  in  the  inland 
everglades  they  are  said  to  be  very  numerous.  One  that  I  read 


i 


OF    THE    UNITED    STATES  67 

about,  one  of  those  rare  northward-ranging  stragglers,  was  cap- 
tured at  Cape  May  in  1878.  This  specimen  was  four  feet  wide, 
and  over  sixteen  feet  long,  and  possessed  a  forty-nine-toothed 
saw,  measuring  over  four  feet  in  length.  Sometimes  they  grow 
very  much  bigger  than  this,  even.  Their  mode  of  locomotion  in 
their  native  element  is  a  kind  of  a  swimming  waddle,  swinging 
the  head  and  saw  from  side  to  side.  This  action  is  powerfully  in- 
creased when  they  are  captured  in  seines,  which  is  by  no  means 
an  infrequent  occurrence,  and  then  the  piscine  Hercules  soon  cuts 
his  way  out.  Fishermen  cannot  endure  the  sawfish,  as  their  nets 
are  thus  so  often  ripped  up.  Many  marvelous  stories  are  told 
about  the  feats  of  the  sawfish,  of  which  probably  only  a  small 
percentage  are  true.  To  illustrate  the  present  contribution,  I 
have  made  two  drawings  of  this  fish,  and  they  are  reproduced  in 
Figs.  6  and  7.  It  will  be  observed  how  flat  he  is  when  viewred 
upon  direct  lateral  aspect;  this  is  quite  in  keeping  with  a  habit 
he  has  of  spending  not  a  little  of  his  time  on  the  bottom.  When 
looked  at  upon  his  under  side  (Fig.  7),  most  of  his  interesting 
characters  come  in  sight.  We  then  gain  the  best  idea  of  the 
shape  of  his  saw,  the  fins  and  the  mouth,  and  other  parts. 

Ichthyologists  have  created  the  genus  Pristis  to  contain  the 
sawfishes,  and  our  Florida  species  is  known  as  P.  pectinatus. 
They  are  most  nearly  related  to  the  Bays,  other  very  remarkable 
fishes  that  I  shall  have  something  to  say  about  a  little  further 
on.  Rays,  Sawfishes,  and  Sharks  all  belong  to  the  cartilaginous 
group  of  fish-forms,  because  they  have  skeletons  composed  only 
of  cartilage.  The  Rays  and  Sharks  taken  together  form  the  sub- 
order Plagiostomata,  and  they  are  divided  into  a  number  of 
families,  to  the  first  of  which  the  Sawfishes  are  relegated. 

There  are  only  about  half  a  dozen  species  of  sawfishes  known 
to  science,  and  they  are  all  confined  pretty  generally  to  the 
warmer  seas  of  the  world.  According  to  Dr.  Guuther,  who  says, 
although  "  the  sawfishes  possess  all  the  essential  characteristics 
of  the  rays  proper,  they  retain  the  elongated  form  of  the  body  of 
sharks,  the  tail  being  excessively  muscular,  and  the  sole  organ  of 
locomotion.  The  "  saw  "  is  a  flat  and  enormously  developed  pro- 
longation of  the  snout,  with  an  endo-skeleton,  which  consists  of 
from  three  to  five  cartilaginous  tubes  ;  these  are,  in  fact,  merely 
the  rostral  processes  of  the  cranial  cartilage,  and  are  found  in  all 
rays,  though  they  are  commonly  much  shorter.  The  integument 
of  the  saw  is  hard,  covered  with  shagreen  ;  and  a  series  of 


68  CHAPTERS    ON    THE    NATURAL    HISTORY 

si  i-on »•  teeth,  sharp  in  front  and  flat  behind,  are  imbedded  in  it, 
in  alveolar  sockets,  on  each  side.  The  saw  is  a  most  formidable 
weapon  of  offense,  by  means  of  which  the  fish  tears  pieces  of 
flesh  off  the  body  of  its  victim,  or  rips  open  its  abdomen  to  feed 
on  the  protruding  intestines.  The  teeth  proper,  with  which  the 
mouth  is  armed,  are  extremely  small  and  obtuse,  and  unsuitable 
for  inflicting  wounds  or  seizing  animals." 

In  the  world's  ichthyfauna  there  are  certainly  five  families 
of  Rays  and  Skates  ;  of  these  we  have  in  our  own  waters  some 
very  interesting  representatives.  For  example,  there  is  the  fa- 
mous Torpedo  (Torpedo  occidentalis)  found  quite  abundantly 
along  our  Atlantic  coasts,  probably  as  far  south  as  Virginia.  I 
have  made  a  drawing  of  this  large  Ray,  and  it  is  shown  in  Fig. 
8  of  this  chapter.  Physiologists  have  always  taken  great  interest 
in  this  remarkable  fish,  from  the  fact  that  it  possesses  a  peculiar 
organ  upon  either  side  of  his  body,  between  the  pectoral  fin  and 
the,  head  and  gills.  This  organ  is  endowed  with  the  power  of 
generating  electricity,  and  is  under  the  control  of  the  animal. 
An  electric  shock  can  be  given  voluntarily  by  the  Torpedo,  and  it 
uses  this  with  great  effectiveness,  either  as  a  means  of  defense, 
or  else  to  stun  or  kill  the  creatures  on  which  it  feeds.  It  is  of 
no  economic  importance  whatever,  and  fishermen,  when  they 
get  them  in  their  pound-nets,  are  very  careful  to  let  them  alone, 
as  the  electric  shock,  even  from  an  average-sized  Torpedo,  may 
knock  a  strong  man  down  or  completely  paralyze  his  arms  for 
some  little  time.  These  Electric  Rays  (Torpedinidce)  are  also 
very  generally  known  as  "  Crampfish,"  as  the  oil  extracted 
from  them  is  said  to  be  a  good  remedy  for  rheumatism  and 
cramps.  The  oil  is  obtained  from  the  livers,  and  it  is  said,  also, 
to  make  an  admirable  lamp  oil.  Large  Torpedoes  will  yield  as 
much  as  three  gallons  of  oil,  but  the  average  is  about  a  gallon 
and  a  half.  They  are  captured  with  the  harpoon.  For  one  to 
receive  a  shock  from  the  Electric  Ray,  the  contact  must  be  at  two 
points,  as  the  battery  has  all  the  characters  of  a  manufactured 
one,  and  the  electricity  all  the  known  properties  of  that  fluid 
elsewhere.  It  will  emit  the  spark;  deflect  the  magnetic  needle 
and  decompose  chemical  compounds.  On  the  upper  side  of  the 
organ  the  electricity  is  positive,  while  upon  the  under  side  it  is 
found  to  be  negative.  Many  other  forms  of  Electric  Rays  are 
found  in  different  parts  of  the  world,  usually  in  tropical  or  sub- 
tropical seas;  some  of  the  big  species  attain  to  a  weight  of  100 


OF    THE    UNITED    STATES 


69 


pounds,  and  in  these,  as  in  all  other  varities  or  kinds  of  electric 
fishes,  the  body  is  without  scales  and  smooth.  Upward  of  thirty 
species  of  Rays  and  Skates  are  found  upon  our  United  States 
coasts,  but  man  has  no  special  use  for  any  of  them.  The  fleshy 
flaps  of  the  big  Barndoor  Skate,  however,  have  been  used  for 
food;  the  fishermen  salting  them  down  at  Portsmouth,  New 


FIG.  8. 

Fig.  S.     Torpedo(7\  occidentalis). 


FIG.  9. 

RAYS  AND  SKATES. 

Fig.  9.     Barndoor  Skate  (Raia  Icevis). 


FIG.  10. 

Fig.  10.     Sting  Ray  (Trygon  xttbina).. 


Hampshire,  and  the  fashionable  restaurants  in  New  York  City 
serving  them  upon  their  tables.  (Fig.  9).  The  enormous  Devil- 
fishes are  Rays  that  may  measure  over  thirty  feet  from  tip  to  tip 
of  their  lateral  pectoral  fins;  and  in  another  place  I  have  de- 
scribed the  conflict  I  once  witnessed  in  Key  West  harbor  between 
one  of  these  great  Rays  and  a  U.  S.  gunboat.  The  latter  had  to 
slip  her  anchor  and  call  her  crew  to  quarters  in  order  to  protect 
herself  against  the  fury  of  the  fish's  onslaught,  and  being  carried 
out  to  sea. 

Skates  and  Rays  spend  most  of  their  time  upon  the  bottom, 
and  when  disturbed  they  swim  off  for  a  short  distance,  over  the 
sand  or  mud,  in  an  undulatory  manner,  by  using  the  pectoral  fins. 
Voracious  in  the  extreme,  they  consume  quantities  of  Crustacea 
and  mollusks  of  various  kinds.  By  their  powerful  jaws  and  pecu- 
liar dentition,  a  big  Ray  can  crush  a  hard-shelled  crab  in  short 


70  CHAPTERS    ON    THE    NATURAL    HISTORY 

order,  and  apparently  with  little  effort.  True  Rays  are  egg- 
layers,  but  the  Torpedoes  or  Electric  Kays  are  viviparous.  Rays' 
eggs  are  quite  characteristic,  resembling  closely  those  of  certain 
Sharks  and  Dogfish.  They  are  parchment-like  affairs,  with 
tough,  oblong,  flat  shells,  which  latter  are  drawn  out  into  string- 
like,  twisted  horns.  These  serve  as  means  of  attachment  to  ma- 
rine plants  and  other  objects,  to  keep  the  egg-case  at  rest  during 
the  development  of  its  contents.  Female  Rays  are  larger  than 
the  males,  and  their  breeding  habits  are  remarkable,  as  well  as 
interesting.  It  will  be  seen  from  my  figures  that  their  tails  are 
often  drawn  out  into  whiplike  appendages,  and  the  fins  of  the 
back  are  often  modified.  Sting-rays  have  these  latter  replaced 
by  a  strong  spine,  with  serrated  edges.  I  have  collected  these, 
and  some  of  them  have  been  as  much  as  five  or  six  inches  long 
(Fig.  10).  Painful  wounds  are  inflicted  by  this  dangerous  weapon, 
for  by  violently  lashing  its  whip-like  tail,  a  sting-ray  can  easily 
lacerate  most  unmercifully  its  intended  victim,  and  then  if  the 
mucus  of  the  fish  happens  to  enter  the  wounds,  a  poisonous  ef- 
fect ensues,  thus  aggravating  matters  still  more.  In  some  spe- 
cies there  are  two  of  these  spines,  while  in  other  Rays  the  entire 
tail  is  bedecked  with  thorns,  and  this  kind  of  ray  is  very  gener- 
ally eaten  in  Europe,  in  common  with  other  species.  Sting-rays 
often  grow7  to  be  as  big  as  the  Skates,  and  specimens  weighing 
500  pounds  are  sometimes  secured.  Volumes  have  been  written 
about  the  Rays  (Batoidei)  and  much  of  it  is  very  entertaining  and 
instructive,  but  let  us  next  pass  to  a  brief  consideration  of  their 
nearest  allies,  or  to  the  Sharks. 

Now,  although  the  majority  of  species  of  Sharks  are  very  dif- 
ferent appearing  fishes  from  the  Rays,  they  have,  nevertheless, 
many  important  characteristics  in  common  with  them.  Then, 
too,  even  in  the  matter  of  appearance,  the  Sawfish,  although 
most  nearly  related  to  the  rays,  has  a  form  approaching  some 
Sharks,  while  the  Angel-fish  (Squatina),  among  the  latter,  is  a 
very  ray-like  looking  Shark.  The  group  contains  a  number  of 
families,  including  such  well-known  forms  as  the  Dogfish  or 
Hounds.  Smooth  or  Blue  Dogfish  are  very  common  in  Long 
Island  Sound,  where,  many  years  ago,  I  used  to  catch  numbers 
of  them  off  the  reefs.  In  the  same  waters,  I  have  also  frequently 
taken  the  Spiny  Dogfish,  or  "  Bonefish,"  as  the  fishermen  call  it, 
off  the  coast  of  Connecticut.  These  little  sharks  are  very  abun- 
dant there,  and  in  former  years  were  of  great  economical  impor- 


OF    THE    UNITED    STATES 


71 


tance,  as  barrels  of  oil  were  made  from  their  livers,  and  the  skins 
are  of  no  little  value,  for,  owing  to  the  fine  and  peculiar  nature 
of  its  scaling,  it  is  used  with  great  advantage,  when  dried,  in  pol- 
ishing metals  of  various  kinds,  and  for  similar  purposes.  The 
female  of  this  fish  is  considerably  larger  than  the  male,  and  I 
have  understood  that  as  many  as  20,000  have  been  taken  in  a 
seine  at  one  time.  We  might  say  a  great  deal  more  ahojit  dog- 
fishes, but  I  prefer  to  pass  to  the  consideration  of  some  of  the 
big  man-eating  sharks.  The  common  "  White  Shark  "  occurs  at 
rare  intervals  upon  our  Atlantic  coast,  and  of  it  a  great  many 
accounts  have  been  given.  It  is  a  perfect  pest  in  the  Mediter- 
ranean Sea,  and  as  I  write  these  lines,  I  have  at  hand  the  jaw  of 
an  enormous  specimen  of  this  species,  that  was  collected  on  the 
coast  of  Italy,  near  the  harbor  of  Naples.  The  fish  was  found 


FIG.  11.     THE  WHITE  SHARK  (Carckarias). 

Drawn  by  the  Author  and  very  much  reduced. 

dead  upon  the  beach,  and  it  had  swallowed  the  entire  body  of  a 
Neapolitan  soldier,  dowrn  as  far  as  the  man's  knees.  The  victim 
was  taken  out,  and  it  was  found  that  he  had  on  his  uniform  and 
part  of  his  accoutrements.  This  jaw  I  have  had  for  many  years, 
and  it  is  armed  with  hideous  rows  upon  rows  of  jagged  teeth. 
Only  the  front  row  of  these  is  fully  functional,  and  when  any  of 
them  are  lost  they  are  soon  replaced  by  the  tooth  from  the  row 
next  behind.  With  the  greatest  ease,  it  can  be  slid  over  a  large 
man.  In  the  British  Museum  there  is  the  jaw  of  a  shark,  prob- 
ably of  this  species  or  genus,  that  belongs  to  an  individual  up- 
ward of  forty  feet  in  length.  Such  a  shark,  however,  is  but  a 
pigmy  to  the  specimens  that  existed  in  former  ages  of  the  world's 


72  CHAPTERS    ON    THE    NATURAL    HISTORY 

history.  In  the  phosphate  beds  of  South  Carolina,  for  example, 
are  found  fossil  teeth  of  sharks  that  must  have  belonged  to  speci- 
mens having  length  ranging  as  high  as  eighty  or  more  feet. 
Sharks  of  this  size  would  have  no  trouble  in  swallowing  a  horse 
entire,  and  probably  his  rider  along  writh  it.  In  1864  I  was  bath- 
ing upon  Egmont  Cay,  Florida,  when  I  nearly  lost  my  life  from 
the  voracious  attack  of  a  huge  shark,  that  was  attracted  to  the 
place  by  the  barking  of  a  little  dog  that  belonged  to  a  compan- 
ion, who  was  in  the  water  with  him  at  the  same  time.  While 
sailing  in  the  Gulf  of  Mexico  I  have  seen  these  great  sharks 
about  the  ship  for  days,  and  when  the  sailors  would  occasion- 
ally catch  one,  the  contents  of  the  stomach  of  the  creature  were 
often  most  extraordinary.  I  have  an  account  before  me  wherein 
it  says,  "  in  one  case  the  contents  of  a  lady's  work-basket,  even 
including  the  scissors,  were  found,"  and  in  another  an  entire 
bull's  hide.  Upon  the  latter  a  sailor  remarked  that  the  fish  had 
swallowed  a  bull,  but  could  not  digest  the  hide.  Another  writer 
says,  "  I  was  holding  the  heavy  hook  and  wire  rope  over  the  side, 
when  I  felt  that  I  had  caught  a  big  fish,  and  pulling  it  cautiously, 
a  shark  came  to  the  surface.  I  called  out  for  help.  He  struggled 
so  violently,  lashing  the  water  with  his  tail  and  trying  to  bite 
the  hook  asunder,  that  we  were  obliged  to  keep  dipping  his  head 
under  water  and  then  haul  him  up  two  or  three  feet  to  let  it  run 
down  his  throat.  At  last  he  was  nearly  drowned,  when,  sending 
a  running  bow-line  down  the  rope  by  which  he  was  caught,  and 
making  it  taut  under  his  back  fin,  we  clapped  the  line  around  the 
windlass  and  turned.  Some  then  hauled  his  tail  up,  while  all 
available  hands  dragged  at  the  other  line,  which  held  his  head. 
As  soon  as  we  got  him  on  board,  he  broke  off  about  three  feet  of 
the  .ship's  bulwarks  by  a  single  lash  of  his  tremendous  tail.  This 
was  then  cut  off  by  the  boatswain  with  a  hatchet,  while  a  dozen 
of  us  with  bowie-knives  finished  him..  We  found  in  his  stomach 
six  large  snakes,  two  empty  quart  bottles,  two  dozen  lobsters,  a 
sheepskin  and  horns,  and  the  shank-bones,  which  the  cook  had 
thrown  overboard  two  days  before.  The  liver  filled  two  large 
washdeck  tubs,  and  when  tried  out  gave  us  ten  gallons  of  oil." 
The  Tiger  Shark,  and  also  the  great  Blue  Shark  (Carcliarias  ijlnu- 
cus),  are  also  very  voracious  and  particularly  dangerous  species. 
I  shall  never  forget  something  I  once  saw  from  the  deck  of  a 
man-of-war  lying  in  Key  West  harbor,  Florida.  The  water  was 
very  blue,  and  one  could  see  down  into  it  only  a  little  way.  All 


OF    THE    UNITED    STATES  73 

at  once,  upon  peering  into  its  depths,  I  became  convinced  that  an 
enormous  brown  fish  was  coming  gradually  to  the  surface.  As 
the  villain  neared  it,  he  became  more  active,  but  what  fixed  my 
attention  most  of  all,  was  the  curious  form  of  its  head.  On  either 
side  it  was  produced  lateral-wise,  the  extremity  being  occupied 
by  the  eye.  These  were  large  and  were  rolled  about  in  their  sock- 
ets in  the  most  horrid  manner.  It  was  a  specimen  of  the  dreaded 
Hammerhead  shark  (Zygcena  malleus),  and  must  have  been  at 
least  between  eight  and  nine  feet  long,  or  even  longer.  This  is 
a  very  dangerous  species,  no  less  so,  indeed,  than  the  white  and 
the  blue  sharks.  It  is  found  all  along  the  coast  from  Cape  Cod 
to  Cape  Sable,  and  to  the  southward.  They  are  also  of  the  man- 
eating  variety,  and  specimens  have  been  captured  in  the  stom- 
achs of  which  portions  of  human  bodies  and  plenty  of  clothing 
and  other  objects  have  been  found.  There  are  between  twenty 


FIG.  12.     HAMMERHEAD  SHAKK  (Zygcena  malleus). 

and  thirty  species  of  sharks  and  dogfishes  found  upon  the  Pacific 
coast,  and  many  of  these  have  been  described  by  Jordan  in  his 
very  useful  works  upon  American  fishes.  The  Thrasher  and  the 
Mackerel  sharks  occur  upon  both  of  our  coasts,  and  each  is  a 
very  distinguished  species.  Oil  in  considerable  quantities  is  pro- 
cured from  the  livers  of  the  latter,  while  of  the  former  Doctor 
Goode  says  that  it  is  known  "  in  Europe  as  the  Fox  shark,  and  to 
our  fishermen  most  usually  as  the  Swingle-tail.  It  is  one  of  the 
most  grotesque  of  sea  animals,  the  upper  lobe  of  the  tail  being 
exceedingly  long,  curving  upwrard  and  resembling  in  form  the 
blade  of  a  scythe."  Thrashers  grow  to  become  fifteen  feet  or 
more  in  length,  and  weigh  several  hundred  pounds.  Stories 
about  their  attacking  whales,  however,  have  no  foundation  in 
fact.  Fishermen  say  they  kill  fish  by  blows  of  their  powerful 


74  CHAPTERS    ON    THE    NATURAL    HISTORY 

tail,  a  questionable  statement,  though  it  is  kiiowii  that  these 
sharks  feed  upon  fish. 

Most  of  the  sharks  are  viviparous,  but  the  dogfishes  produce 
eggs  closely  resembling  those  brought  forth  by  the  rays.  When 
a  boy,  I  frequently  found  them  at  low  water  on  Long  Island 
Hound,  tangled  up  in  the  salt  water  grass.  Some  sharks  are 
bottom-loving  species,  while  a  few  species  may  almost  be  reck- 
oned among  the  so-called  deep-sea  fishes.  Two  small  species  of 
dogfishes  have  been  taken  at  depths  varing  between  400  and  500 
fathoms,  or  nearly  3,000  feet  below  the  surface.  Gunther  says 
these  sharks  were  from  three  to  four  feet  long,  and  "  on  being 
rapidly  withdrawn  from  the  great  pressure  under  which  they 
lived,  they  were  killed,  like  other  deep-sea  fishes,  under  similar 
circumstances." 

Some  naturalists  claim  that  the  oldest  existing  type  of  verte- 
brate is  a  shark.  It  comes  from  Japan,  and  only  two  specimens 
of  the  species  have  thus  far  fallen  into  the  hands  of  science.  One 
of  these  is  in  the  Museum  of  Harvard  College,  and  the  other  is 
in  the  British  Museum.  Our  distinguished  countryman,  Mr. 
Samuel  Garman,  of  Harvard,  was  the  first  man  to  describe  this 
remarkable  shark,  and  he  gave  it  the  scientific  name  of  Glila- 
mydoselaclius  anguineus.  A  few  years  ago  I  received  from  him  a 
copy  of  his  memoir  on  the  subject,  and  I  have  copied  his  figure  to 
show  the  appearance  of  the  fish  here.  (Fig.  13.) 

As  I  have  just  said  above,  some  of  our  sharks  may  almost  be 
classed  among  those  oceanic  forms  of  fishes,  that  living  so  far  be- 
neath the  depths  of  the  seas  are  now  universally  termed  by  nat- 
uralists the  deep-sea  fishes,  and  by  the  aid  of  our  modern 
oceanic  dredging  machines  we  are  coming  to  know  something 
of  these  remarkable  forms.  Many  invertebrates  are  also  thus 
taken,  but  after  all  it  is  the  extraordinary  types  of  fishes  that 
from  time  to  time  have  come  to  light  whk-h  have  possessed  the 
keenest  interest  for  the  ichthyologist  and  marine  naturalist. 
Many  of  these  have  long  been  known,  but  a  few  years  ago 
the  splendid  researches  of  the  British  Challenger  expedition 
greatly  increased  our  knowledge  of  them.  Ingenious  nets  and 
trawls  have  brought  up,  from  depths  varing  from  200  to  2,400 
fathoms,  many  genera  and  species  of  these  curious  fish,  repre- 
senting, as  they  do,  some  dozen  or  more  families.  As  a  fathom 
is  six  feet,  this  means  from  1,200  to  14,400  feet,  a  fact  in  itself 
sufficient  to  excite  our  wonder.  Most  all  the  great  oceans  and 


FIG.  13.      Chlamydoselachus  anguineus. 

(The  oldest  type  of  existing  vertebrates.)    Drawn  by  the  Author  after  Carman. 


OF    THE    UNITED    STATES  77 

seas  have  thus  been  examined,  and  in  all  such  life  is  found  to  be 
present.  These  fishes  normally  never  come  to  the  surface,  and 
when  forcibly  brought  up  in  a  trawl,  they  are  visibly  affected  in  a 
number  of  ways.  Some  become  greatly  inflated  by  the  expansion 
of  the  gases  within  them,  and  where  they  possess  scales  of  any 
size,  these  are  elevated  all  over  the  fish's  body.  Some  of  these 
deep-sea  forms  are  found  to  be  blind;  a  number  are  semi-trans- 
parent; others  have  peculiar  phosphorescent  organs  on  the  head; 
while  nearly  every  one  is  extremely  peculiar  in  form,  great  vari- 
ance is  seen  to  obtain  with  them  (but  this  has  no  relation  to 
either  latitude  or  temperature) ;  and  in  the  case  of  not  a  few  their 
geographical  ranges  are  very  wide — the  same  species  occurring 
in  many  parts  of  the  world.  Notwithstanding  that  this  is  true, 
some  of  these  deep-sea  fishes  are  very  rare.  I  have  in  mind  at 
least  one  instance  at  the  present  writing  where  but  a  single  in- 


FIG.  14.     THE  TORCHFISH  (Linophryne  lucifer). 

Drawn  by  the  Author. 

dividual  of  a  certain  species  has  fallen  into  the  hands  of  science. 
This  was  taken  years  ago  by  my  friend,  the  distinguished  Cuban 
naturalist,  Don  Felipe  Poey  (1872),  and  sixteen  years  afterward 
I  published  an  illustrated  account  of  it — giving  a  figure  of  the 
fish  and  a  description  of  its  skeleton.  During  all  that  time  no 
other  specimen  had  been  obtained,  and  so  far  as  I  am  at  present 
aware,  none  have  been  secured  since  the  appearance  of  my 
memoir. 

The  "  Torchfish,"  of  which  I  give  a  figure  above,  is  one  of  the 
most  remarkable  types  that  has  thus  far  been  captured.  From 
its  nose  there  stands  erect  upon  a  stem  a  small  organ,  elliptical 
in  form  and  phosphorescent  in  function,  which  the  fish  has  the 
power  of  making  very  luminous  or  the  reverse,  at  its  pleasure. 
The  Torchfish  also  has  an  elongated  and  slender  filament  swing- 


' 


78  CHAPTERS    ON    THE    NATURAL    HISTORY 

ing  from  beneath  its  lower  jaw.  Its  free  end  is  tufted.  Now, 
small  fish  are  both  attracted  by. this  freely  moving  little  bait,  as 
well  as  by  the  beautiful  light  emitted  by  the  "  torch,"  and  dart- 
ing after  the  former  by  the  aid  of  the  latter  they  very  freqently 
land  in  the  capacious  mouth  of  their  allurer,  who  quickly  devours 
them.  The  physiology  of  this  phosphorescent  organ  is,  as  yet, 
not  fully  understood. 

Very  large  eyes  sometimes  characterize  certain  species  of  these 
curious  beings,  and,  as  I  have  said  above,  sometimes  the  eyes 
are  absent,  or  so  small  as  to  be  detected  only  after  careful  search 
with  the  microscopic  lens.  This  is  the  case  with  the  little  deep- 
sea  fish  form  known  as  the  "  Blind  Angler  "  (Mancalias  shufeldti), 
described  in  1883  by  the  eminent  ichthyologist,  Dr.  Theo.  Gill,  of 
the  Smithsonian  Institution,  and  obtained  at  2,400  fathoms  by 
the  United  States  Fish  Commission  Steamer  Albatross.  In  re- 
marking upon  the  species,  Dr.  Gill  has  said,  "  they  have  a  real 
fishing  rod,  and  three  of  the  types  have  a  notable  one.  The  rod 
is  represented  by  the  first  spine  of  ordinary  fishes,  which  is  situ- 
ated on  the  back  part  of  the  head;  it  is  long  and  borne  aloft,  and 
in  the  typical  species  rod  and  line  are  developed.  The  rod  is 
represented  by  the  basil  joint,  and  the  line  by  the  distal  one;  the 
rod  is  stiffened,  but  the  line  quite  flexible,  and  at  its  end  there  is 
a  bait  in  the  form  of  a  bulb,  whch  is  generally  more  or  less  pyri- 
form  in  outline.  The  fish  doubtless  lies  on  the  ground,  carrying 
the  rod  curved  over  its  head,  and  other  fishes  are  attracted  by  the 
bulb,  which  may  be  moved  to  and  fro;  when  the  incautious  in- 
quirer approaches  near  enough  the  angler  rises  upward  and  en- 
gulfs him  in  his  capacious  maw.  The  mouth,  be  it  observed, 
opens  upward,  and  even  to  a  slight  extent  backward,  and  is  thus 
eminently  adapted  for  its  angling  life." 

This  genus  of  fishes  belongs  to  the  Ceratiids,  and  are  related  to 
another  group  also  known  as  "  Anglers,"  of  which  the  very  well- 
known  and  large-sized  u  Goose  Fish  "  belongs  (Lopliius  piwu- 
Inr'uiK  (Lopliiids). 

M<inciiH<iK  was  first  obtained  by  the  Challenger  expedition, 
near  the  Cape  Verde  Islands  in  2,400  fathoms  of  water.  This  was 
M.  uranoscopus,  the  type  of  the  genus;  the  specimen,  3J  inches 
long,  is  now  in  the  British  Museum.  M.  slnifcldti,  originally  de- 
scribed as  TypJtiopsara*  shufeldti,  was  subsequently  referred  to 
this  genus. 

We  now  have  out  a  very  fine  work  on  all  the  deep-sea  fishes. 


OF    THE    UNITED    STATES 


79 


by  no  less  a  distinguished  authority  than  the  late  Professor  G. 
Brown  Goode,  the  lamented  Secretary  of  the  United  States  Na- 
tional Museum.  It  is  fully  illustrated,  and  covers  the  entire  sub- 
ject up  to  the  date  of  its  appearance. 

During  the  season  of  1892-93,  H.  M.  Marine  Survey  Steamer 
Investigator,  Commander  C.  P.  Oldham,  K.  N.,  commanding, 
with  a  corps  of  naturalists  aboard,  did  some  good  collecting  in 
the  Bay  of  Bengal  and  adjacent  waters.  In  addition  to  other 
forms,  the  deep-sea  fishes  collected  by  them  were  described  by 
my  esteemed  correspondent,  Mr.  A.  Alcock,  Superintendent  of 


M 17 


DEEP-SEA  FISHES  OF  INDIA. 


Neobythites  steatilicus,  n.  sp.  length  of  type,  5.25  inches 

Odontostomus  atrafus,  n.  sp.  length  3.5  inches,  Bay  of  Bengal,  573  fathoms. 


(After  Alcock.) 

Bay  of  Bengal,  128  fathoms. 


Fig.  15. 

Fig.  16.  ,     .      .  .  ,  ,  . 

Fig.  17.  Bathypercis  platyrhynchiis,  n.  gen.  et.  sp.  length  4.3  inches,  Bay  of  Bengal,  128  fathoms. 

Fig   18.  Ptiysiculus  argyropastus,  n.  sp.  length  9  inches,  Bay  of  Bengal,  128  fathoms. 


the  Indian  Museum  of  Calcutta,  India,  and  he  has  sent  me  a  copy 
of  the  work,  wherein  the  deep-sea  fishes  appear.  It  is  illustrated 
by  plates,  and  the  drawing  used  in  the  present  article  is  taken 
from  a  free  sketch  made  by  myself  of  his  fishes,  and,  although 
not  what  might  be  called  absolutely  accurate  in  minute  details,  it 
nevertheless  gives  a  very  good  idea  of  those  types  as  found  in  the 
Indian  Ocean,  or  Bay  of  Bengal,  at  depths  varying  from  128  to 
573  fathoms.  It  will  be  observed  that  these  figures  teach  us  one 
great  truth  in  regard  to  such  matters,  which  is  probably  appli- 
cable to  all  forms  of  oceanic  life  —  and  that  is,  and  we  now  refer 


80  CHAPTERS    ON    THE    NATURAL    HISTORY 

to  fishes,  the  nearer  we  obtain  them  to  the  surface  of  the  sea  or 
ocean,  the  more  do  they  come  to  resemble,  both  in  form  and 
structure,  what  we  see  in  ordinary  fishes  of  the  shallower  waters. 
All  four  of  the  forms  shown  in  the  figures  belong  to  new  species, 
and  in  one  case  to  both  new  genus  and  species  (Fig.  15).  This 
latter  is  of  the  order  Anacanthini  of  the  family  Ophidiidw,it  being 
in  the  genus  Neobythites  of  Goode  and  Bean,  and  has  been  called 
by  Mr.  Alcock  N.  steatiticus.  To  the  order  Anacanthini  are  also 
referred  the  cods,  the  haddocks,  the  ling,  and  similar  fishes 
(Gadidw),  also  all  the  so-called  "Flatfishes"  and  their  kin,  as 
flounders,  soles,  and  halibuts  (Pleuronectidw),  and  other  fam- 
ilies. 

To  me,  the  fish  shown  in  Fig.  15  superficially  resembles  the 
common  torsk  of  Europe  (Bromius  vulgaris),  which  last  is  not 
only  an  Anacanthid,  but  also  one  of  the  cod  family,  a  Gadoid. 
Fig.  16  represents  a  small,  very  black  fish  which  was  taken  at 
nearly  600  fathoms,  and  consequently  more  closely  resembles 
some  of  the  forms  coming  from  still  greater  depths.  Especially 
is  this  true  of  its  gaping  jaws  and  long,  slender  teeth,  as  in  the 
"  Torchfish."  0.  trains  (Fig.  16)  belongs  to  the  order  Physoitoini, 
and  the  family  Scopelidw.  It  has  no  scales,  and  is  supposed  to 
possess  rows  of  small  luminous  organs  on  the  inner  border  of  the 
lower  jaws  and  elsewhere.  Fig.  17  represents  a  very  interest- 
ing little  deep-sea  fish  (order  Acanthopterygii,  fain.  TrachinidcB), 
being  of  the  same  great  group  to  which  so  many  of  our  common 
fishes  belong,  as  the  perch  .(Percidw),  the  mackerels  (Scom- 
bridw),  the  mullets  (MugilidcB),  and  a  perfect  host  of  other  fam- 
ilies. 

Fig.  18  is  a  fish  that  belongs  to  the  same  order  as  the  species 
shown  in  Fig.  15,  and  to  the  cod  group  (Gadidw),  to  which,  as 
I  have  said  above,  the  latter  is  related.  This  is  rather  a  large  type, 
of  peculiar  form  and  color,  being  a  light  pinkish-brown,  with  a 
silvery  sheen,  the  belly,  throat,  and  gill  membrane  being  a  deep 
black. 

As  time  goes  by,  we  may  look  with  great  confidence  toward 
the  taking  of  still  more  remarkable  forms  from  the  ocean's 
depths,  and  even  at  still  greater  distances  below  the  surface. 
This  will  not  be  done  upon  any  great  scale,  however,  until  the 
United  States  Government  takes  the  matter  in  hand,  and  sends 
to  sea  a  fully  equipped  expedition,  with  every  modern  appliance 
and  facility  aboard,  and  a  select  corps  of  working  naturalists  to 


OF    THE    UNITED    STATES  81 

undertake  the  explorations  to  be  made.  Such  an  expedition 
should  occupy  at  least  five  years  in  foreign  research,  and  be  pre- 
pared to  carry  its  surveys  far  inland,  should  opportunities  arise. 


CHAPTER  VI. 

SEA-HORSES   AND   EELS. 

(HippocampidcB :  Anguillidce.) 

N  the  present  chapter  it  is  my  intention  to  briefly  notice 
the  typical  representatives  of  two  very  different  and 
only  remotely  allied  orders  of  fishes.  I  refer  to  the 
Sea-horses  and  the  eels,  forms  that  have  for  years 
excited  popular  interest,  inasmuch  as  the  first-named  appear  so 
very  unfishlike,  and  the  latter  by  many  are  suspected  of  having 
some  sort  of  kinship  with  the  snakes.  Both  are  teleostean  fishes, 
however,  and  according  to  Jordan,  the  Sea-horses  belong  to  the 
order  Lophobranchii,  and  the  Eels  to  the  order  Apodes. 

Again,  sea-horses  are  contained  in  the  family  Hippocampidw, 
genus  Hippocampus,  and  Jordan  gives  two  species  as  occurring 
in  our  fauna,  viz.:  H.  heptagonus  and  H.  ingens.  The  other  lopho- 
branch  family  associated  with  them  are  the  pipefishes  (Syngna- 
thidce),  of  which  there  are  a  number  of  forms  on  our  coasts.  They 
are  very  different  appearing  as  compared  with  the  sea-horses,  as 
they  are  small,  slender,  elongated  fishes,  covered  with  bony 
plates.  They  have  long  raw-prehensile  tails,  commonly  pro- 
vided with  a  diminutive  caudal  fin.  The  males  have  egg-pouches, 
into  wrhich  the  eggs  are  received  and  hatched.  After  this  the 
pouch  opens  and  the  young  escape.  Our  United  States  pipe- 
fishes belong  tp  the  genus  Siphostoma,  the  common  pipefish  being 
8.  fuscum,  which  is  found  upon  the  Atlantic  coast. 

The  Australian  sea-horse  also  occurs  in  Europe,  and  according 
to  Goode,  "there  have  been  only  one  or  two  instances  of  the  cap- 
ture of  this  fish  north  of  Cape  Cod;  one  was  seined  with  a  school 
of  mackerel  on  George's  bank  in  August,  1873.  Two  or  three 
specimens  have  been  taken  at  Wood's  Holl  during  the  last  ten 
years,  and  instances  of  their  capture  in  Connecticut  and  about 
the  mouth  of  the  Hudson  are  not  rare.  On  the  New  Jersey  coast 
and  south  to  the  Gulf  of  Mexico  it  appears  to  be  very  abundant." 
Seen  upon  lateral  aspect,  the  upper  half  of  the  sea-horse  is  apt  to 
remind  one  of  the  piece  in  a  set  of  chessmen  called  the  "knight," 
and  it  is  impossible  for  one  not  to  be  struck  by  its  extraordinary 
equine  physiognomy.  The  lower  half  of  the  body  is  composed  of 
the  long,  tapering,  prehensile  tail,  which  is  of  a  quadrangular 


OF    THE    UNITED    STATES 


83 


form.  The  body  of  the  fish  is  much  compressed,  and  it,  together 
with  the  tail,  is  overlaid  with  osseous  plates,  the  borders  of  which 
form  raised  transverse  wings,  armed  with  spines  or  tubercles. 
The  neck  is  curved,  so  that  the  axis  of  the  head  is  placed  at 
nearly  a  right  angle  with  the  long  axis  of  the  body.  Spines  also 
ornament  the  head.  It  will  be  seen  that  the  dorsal  fin  is  the 


FIG.  J  9.     THE  SEA-HORSE  (Hippocampus  heptagonus). 

By  the  Author,  after  Goode. 


largest,  while  the  others  are  very  small.  An  egg-pouch  is  pres- 
ent in  the  male.  The  mouth  is  very  small,  and  is  found  at  the 
extremity  of  the  elongated  snout,  while  the  orbits  for  the  eyes 
are  nearly  circular.  In  color,  our  common  sea-horse  is  of  a  yel- 
lowish brown,  darker  dorsally.  Some  small  pale  spots  are  found 
upon  the  sides,  with  the  cheeks  showing  light  brown  lines  of  a 
radiating  character,  and  wavy. 


84  CHAPTERS    ON    THE    NATURAL    HISTORY 

Hippocampus  ingens,  our  Californian  species,  is  said  to  reach  a 
length  of  nearly  a  foot,  and  the  form  of  the  body  is  rather  slen- 
der. It  is  of  a  darker  brown  than  heptagonus,  being  mottled  with 
a  still  darker  shade,  and  spotted  over  with  white. 

Owing  to  the  imperishable  nature  of  the  external  body  armor 
of  a  sea  horse,  many  specimens  of  these  fishes  float  ashore,  and  in 
the  curiosity  shops  there  is  no  trouble  in  securing  dried  speci- 
mens. 

Here  we  may  incidentally  remark  that,  although  the  open  seas 
of  the  warm  regions  of  the  globe  are  the  places  where  sea-horses 
are  found  in  the  greatest  abundance,  they  are  frequently  carried 
by  ocean  currents  to  great  distances. 

In  studying  a  living  specimen  of  the  common  sea-horse  in  an 
aquarium  we  note  that  it  moves  about  in  nearly  a  vertical  atti- 


FlG.  20.     Phyllopteryx  eques. 

By  the  Author  after  Gunther,  and  reduced. 

tude,  and  that  with  no  great  powers  of  locomotion.  Its  fins  are 
kept  in  a  state  of  rapid  vibratory  action,  and  it  is  due  to  this  lack 
of  inherent  propulsive  power  that  the  fish  is  unable  to  withstand 
the  various  forces  of  its  element  which  are  brought  to  bear  upon 
it,  such  as  the  ocean  currents,  and  the  action  of  the  wind  and  the 
waves.  By  means  of  its  prehensile  tail  it  instinctively  clings  to 
sprays  of  seaweed,  bits  of  broken  shells,  or  anything  of  a  similar 
nature  which  may  happen  to  occur  in  its  way. 

Their  peculiar  mode  of  reproduction  especially  attracts  atten- 
tion to  these  fishes,  "a  trait  so  strange,"  as  Lockwood  has  said, 
"  as  to  suggest  the  seemingly  abnormal  habits  of  the  marsupials 
— the  opossum  and  the  kangaroo — although  the  eccentricity  of 
the  fish  is  far  greater  than  that  of  the  land  marsupial ;  for,  in  the 


OF    THE    UNITED    STATES  85 

latter,  it  is  the  female  whose  pouch  receives  the  immature  young, 
and  which  are  therein  nourished  to  complete  their  development. 
The  parental  relation  of  the  female  lophobranch,  however,  is  re- 
stricted to  the  simple  emission  of  the  unirnpregnated  eggs.  Be- 
yond this,  maternity  she  has  none.  The  male  is  really  father  and 
mother  to  the  progeny/ ' 

The  baby  sea-horses  measure  about  five  to  six  lines  in  length, 
and  notwithstanding  their  thread-like » and  rounded  tails,  with 
their  semi-globular  heads  and  short,  wide  snouts,  there  can  be 
no  mistaking  their  parentage.  At  the  very  outstart,  too,  they 
are  in  full  possession  of  their  little  whip-like  caudal  appendages, 
and  they  will,  in  passing  each  other,  mutually  extend  them  for 
a  common  intertwinement,  resulting  in  both  the  owners  coming 
to  a  standstill  as  they  pull  away  in  opposite  directions.  A  more 
enterprising  member  of  the  host  may  vary  the  program  by 


FIG.  21.     FRY  or  SEA-HORSE. 

By  the  Author,  after  Lockwood. 

curling  its  tail  about  the  stumpy  muzzle  of  some  one  of  its  numer- 
ous brothers  or  sisters,  and,  for  a  moment,  literally  lead  its  cap- 
tive relative  about  by  the  nose.  It  is  said  that  there  is  no  end  to 
the  amusing  antics  they  perform. 

"  In  the  matter  of  foetal  sustenance,"  says  Lockwood,  "  I  find  a 
remarkable  marsupial  analogy  in  the  hippocampus.  The  pouch 
of  the  kangaroo  and  the  opossum  contain  teats,  with  which,  by 
true  lactation,  the  young  are  nourished  until  fully  formed.  Nor 
is  the  embryonal  sack  of  the  sea-horse  a  mere  receptacle  for  the 
hatching  of  the  eggs,  as  nourishment  is  supplied  to  the  growing 
young.  We  know  that  the  bear,  during  hibernation,  lives  upon 
the  fat  acquired  the  previous  season.  During  a  journey  that  re- 
quires abstinence  from  food,  the  well-conditioned  camel  will  sub- 
sist on  the  absorption  of  its  fattened  hump.  The  tail  of  the  frog, 
which  has  just  completed  its  last  metamorphosis,  does  not  pass 
off  by  atrophy,  but  is  really  a  wise  provision  for  the  creature's 


86  CHAPTERS    ON    THE    NATURAL    HISTORY 

support  by  absorption  during  the  few  days  which  constitute  the 
most  critical  period  of  its  life." 

One  of  the  chief  protections  sea-horses  have  against  their 
enemies  is  the  way  in  which  their  coloration,  as  a  rule,  harmo- 
nizes with  their  surroundings.  This  protection  is  still  further  en- 
hanced by  the  very  form  and  attitudes  of  the  fish,  and  by  the 
wavy  dorsal  fin,  and  peculiar  spines  and  tubercles  which  project 
from  its  head  and  body.  This  protective  mimicry  is  perhaps  best 
seen  in  the  remarkable  Australian  sea-horses,  which  belong  to 
the  genus  Pliyllopteryx,  an  example  of  which  is  shown  in  Fig.  20 
of  this  chapter.  Here  the  loose,  floating  appendages  of  its  body 
have  more  the  appearance  of  sprays  of  waving  sea  weed  than  they 
have  to  anything  which  ought  to  belong  to  a  fish.  It  is  a  very 
singular  sight  to  dip  up  a  bucket  of  sea  water  containing  a  quan- 
tity of  sea  weed  of  a  certain  species,  and  come  to  examine  it ;  for 
at  first  no  one  would  suspect  the  presence  of  such  a  thing  as  a 
fish.  But  presently  there  floats  away  from  the  vegetal  mass, 
weakly  swimming,  a  specimen  of  these  truly  extraordinary 
lophobranchian  creatures,  which  for  all  the  world  resembles  a 
thin  bit  of  scraggly  root,  with  the  loose  and  undulating  sea  weed 
clinging  to  it.  This  proves  not  to  be  the  case,  however,  for  it  is 
nothing  more  nor  less  than  a  Pliyllopteryx  we  have  before  us, 
which,  as  Gtinther  has  very  truly  said,  is  "one  of  the  most  singu- 
lar types  of  littoral  fishes." 

It  is  thought  in  the  case  of  the  young  of  the  pipefishes  that 
they  re-enter  the  pouch  of  the  parent  when  threatened  with  any 
danger,  but  this  has  not,  to  my  knowledge,  been  proved  to  obtain 
with  respect  to  the  fry  of  Hippocampus.  When  the  male  sea- 
horse once  rids  himself  of  his  descendants,  he  ceases  to  entertain, 
as  a  rule,  any  solicitude  for  them,  and  it  must  be  thought  that 
the  mother  of  these  helpless  little  animals  hardly  knows,  or  ac- 
tually does  not  know,  what  they  even  look  like.  Strange  to  say, 
nevertheless,  the  male  sea-horse  has  been  known  to  vigorously 
protect  his  brood  of  young  shortly  after  their  escape  from  his 
brood-sac,  and  instances  are  upon  record  of  his  doing  this  in  the 
case  of  an  attack  upon  them  by  the  female,  unconscious  as  the 
latter  probably  was  that  they  were  her  own.  Had  she  suc- 
ceeded in  devouring  them,  however,  she  would  have  accom- 
plished no  more  than  do  some  other  species  of  fishes  which  are 
known  to  feed  upon  their  own  fry. 

Considering  next  certain  representatives  of  the  family  Anguil- 


OF    THE    UNITED    STATES  87 

lid  a',  it  may  in  truth  be  said  that  there  are  vast  numbers  of 
people  who  believe  that  our  common  eels  are,  as  I  have  said 
above,  nothing  more  nor  less  than  some  kind  of  a  water  snake, 
and  in  reality  related  to  the  true  serpents.  This  opinion  is  en- 
tirely an  erroneous  one,  and  eels  are  not  only  not  snakes,  but 
they  are  not  even  akin  to  them.  They  are  a  family  of  apodal 
fishes,  numerous  forms  of  which,  to  some  extent,  resemble  a 
snake  in  appearance,  from  their  having  a  general  serpentine 
outline. 

It  is  quite  remarkable  to  find  persons  possessing  a  high  order 
of  intelligence  in  many  fields  of  information  to  be  almost  en- 
tirely ignorant  of  such  matters. 

There  has  been  since  the  days  of  Aristotle  an  enormous 
literature  devoted  to  the  subject  of  eels,  the  structure  of 
both  sexes,  arid  their  habits  and  reproduction.  The  geo- 
graphical distribution  and  migration  of  eels  have  also  re- 
ceived very  considerable  attention,  the  latter  being  a  subject  of 
special  interest.  One  of  our  best  authorities  on  fishes,  Dr.  D. 
S.  Jordan,  recognizes  but  one  species  of  common  eel  occurring  in 
this  country  (Anguilla  rostrata),  which  he  says  is  "very  abundant 
from  Maine  to  Mexico;  ascending  all  streams,  and  resident 
throughout  the  Mississippi  Valley.  Also  recorded  from  China." 
On  the  other  hand,  Dr.  Goode  assumes  the  specific  identity  of  the 
eels  of  the  Old  and  the  New  Worlds,  and  makes  the  habitat  of 
the  common  eel  almost  cosmopolitan,  designating  the  species  as 
A.  vulgaris  (Fig.  22).  Still  other  authorities  entertain  views 
at  variance  with  the  two  just  given,  and  Prof.  Packard,  one  of 
our  best  known  naturalists,  says  "  the  common  eel,"  which  he 
claims  to  be  "  Anguilla  acutirostri-s,  occurs  on  both  sides  of  the 
Atlantic,  on  the  North  American  coast  as  far  south  as  Cape  Hat- 
teras,  and  in  inland  rivers  and  lakes."  From  this  it  will  be  ad- 
mitted that  not  a  little  yet  remains  to  be  accomplished,  even  in 
the  matter  of  the  correct  identification  of  the  members  of  this 
genus. 

One  of  the  most  interesting  facts  connected  with  the  history 
of  eels  is  that  they  are  known  at  times  to  leave  the  water  and  to 
pass  over  dry  land  to  other  ponds  or  lakes  in  the  neighborhood. 
By  the  aid  of  roots  and  branches  or  inequalities  of  the  ground, 
they  have  also  been  known  to  climb  out  of  the  water  and  up  more 
or  less  steep  ascents,  sometimes  to  the  height  of  twenty  feet. 
When  confined  in  ponds,  eels  will  often  quit  these  at  night,  and, 


OO  CHAPTERS    ON    THE    NATURAL    HISTORY 

squirming  over  the  moist  meadow-lands  or  the  dewy  grass,  pass 
to  a  river  in  the  vicinity,  where  they  may  enjoy  purer  water  and 
better  conditions. 

A  great  many  interesting  incidents  might  be  told  bearing  upon 
this  chapter  of  the  life-history  of  these  remarkable  fishes.  Many 
and  peculiar  have  been  the  theories  in  regard  to  the  reproduction 
of  eels.  Originating  probably  with  Aristotle,  the  idea  was  long 
entertained  that  they  sprang  from  mud;  later  they  were  sup- 
posed to  be  bred  in  the  ground;  some  believed  eels  to  be  vivip- 
arous, and  even  to-day  it  is  not  difficult  to  find  those  who  will 
contend  that  young  eels  are  produced  from  the  hairs  of  the  tails 
of  stallions  that  have  been  deposited  in  the  water.  Sharp  in- 
deed, in  times  past,  have  been  the  disputes  upon  this  question, 
but  it  is  now  firmly  established  that,  agreeing  with  other  teleos- 


FIG.  22.     THE  COMMON  EEL  (Anguilla  vidgaris). 

Drawn  by  the  Author,  after  Goode,  and  greatly  reduced. 

tean  fishes,  they  are  oviparous,  and  have,  like  them,  a  milt  and 
roe,  which,  though  differing  considerably  in  appearance,  never- 
theless functionally  fulfill  the  same  end.  Eels  deposit  their 
spawn  in  sand  or  mud  in  brackish  water  at  the  mouths  of  rivers, 
and  to  reach  these  localities  they  migrate  in  autumn,  dowrn  vari- 
ous wTater-courses,  to  their  spawning  beds.  This  migration  is 
performed  only  upon  the  darkest  nights,  the  reverse  being  the 
case  with  the  young  eels  in  the  springtime,  they  in  their  turn 
passing  up  the  rivers  during  the  day  in  enormous  numbers.  In 
England,  says  an  authority  at  hand,  "  this  migration 
takes  place  from  February  to  May,  according  to  the  tempera- 
ture, and  some  idea  of  the  vast  numbers  of  young  eels  which  an- 
nually pass  up  our  rivers  may  be  formed  from  the  fact  that  1,800 
of  them,  each  about  three  inches  long,  have  been  observed  to 
pass  a  given  point  on  the  Thames  in  a  single  minute." 


OF    THE    UNITED    STATES  89 

Many  points  in  the  history  of  eels  are  of  interest;  their  pe- 
culiar structure  and  wherein  they  differ  from  their  near  allies 
among  fishes;  of  their  great  economic  value  as  a  food,  and  how 
some  nations  eat  them  and  others  do  not;  of  their  intolerance  of 
cold,  and  how  in  the  winter  time  hundreds  of  them  will  huddle 
together  in  the  mud  a  foot  or  more  beneath  the  surface,  and 
where  fishermen  will  capture  them  in  great  quantities  by  means 
of  eel  spears,  especially  after  the  tide  has  fallen  and  left  them 
dry. 

Baird  has  said  that  eels  will  eat  anything,  living  or  dead,  and 
so  far  as  my  own  personal  experience  goes,  I  believe  them  to 
stand  among  the  scavengers  of  the  rivers  and  seas  where  they 
occur.  They  are  both  carnivorous  as  well  as  voracious,  and  dur- 
ing the  summer  months  of  their  activity  consume  thousands  of 
young  fishes,  worms  and  larvaB  of  marine  insects. 

in  ancient  times  the  Egyptians  regarded  these  fishes  with  the 
greatest  possible  disgust,  while,  on  the  other  hand,  the  Romans 
and  Greeks  esteemed  them  among  the  most  savory  of  their 
dishes,  and  frequently  were  willing  to  pay  enormous  prices  to 
secure  them  as  a  food.  It  is  said  that  in  these  days  eels  are  never 
eaten  in  Scotland,  though  in  England,  as  well  as  in  this  country, 
vast  numbers  of  them  are  annually  consumed.  The  greatest  eel- 
breeding  establishment  in  the  world  is  that  at  Conamachio  on 
the  Adriatic,  where  an  immense  swamp,  bounded  and  fed  by  two 
of  the  mouths  of  the  Kiver  Po,  140  miles  in  circumference,  has 
been  utilized  for  this  purpose.  The  industry  is  very  ancient, 
having  yielded  in  the  sixteenth  century  an  annual  revenue  to  the 
Koman  Pontiffs, in  whose  territory  it  was, off 66,000.  The  eels  are 
cooked  at  Conamachio  and  forwarded  to  the  principal  towns  of 
Italy. 

Among  the  allies  of  the  common  eels  we  find  upon  our  coasts 
the  mura?nas,  which  belong  to  the  family  Murcenidce,  and  of 
these  there  appear  to  be  at  least  three  well  recognized  American 
species.  M.  mordax,  of  the  lower  California  waters,  is  there 
known  by  the  fishermen  as  the  "  Conger  eel,"  or  the  "  Congeree," 
who  dread  it  on  account  of  its  ferocious  disposition  and  the  ugly 
bite  it  so  frequently  inflicts.  These  great  marine  forms  that 
have  been  known  to  attain  a  length  of  ten  feet,  and  weigh  up- 
wards of  150  Ibs. 

It  is  a  first-rate  food-fish,  and  much  sought  after,  many  of  them 
being  brought  into  the  markets  at  Los  Angeles.  Another  species 


90  CHAPTERS    ON    THE    NATURAL    HISTORY 

is  the  "  Speckled  moray  "  (M.  occlata),  found  from  Florida  and 
Texas  coasts  southward,  and  finally,  we  have  M.  melanotis  of  the 
West  Indian  seas,  that  has  been  captured  on  our  Atlantic  coast. 
These  eel-like  fishes  often  attain  a  length  of  five  or  six  feet,  and 
possess  the  power  of  striking  with  their  tails,  like  some  snakes. 
Many  species  of  them  are  found  in  the  tropical  seas,  and  a  great 
deal  of  interest  has  been  written  about  them.  The  common 
Mediterranean  form  is  M.  helence,  called  the  "  Mura3na  "  by  the 
ancient  Eomans,  who  greatly  esteemed  its  white  and  savory 
flesh.  They  kept  them  alive  in  vivaria,  and  Julius  Caesar  dis- 
tributed over  6,000  of  these  to  his  friends  when  celebrating  one 
of  his  triumphs. 

Still  another  most  interesting  eel  family  are  the  famous  elec- 
tric eels,  wrhich  come  to  be  five  or  six  feet  long,  and  are  common 
in  the  marshes  of  Brazil  and  the  Guianas.  We  have  all  heard 
the  story,  so  well  and  briefly  told  by  Gibson,  who  has  said  that 
the  natives  regard  this  animal  "with  terror,"  owdng  to  the  for- 
midable electrical  apparatus  with  which  it  is  provided,  and 
which  extends  along  each  side  of  the  lower  portion  of  the  tail. 
When  this  natural  battery  is  discharged  in  a  favorable  position, 
it  is  sufficiently  powerful  to  kill  the  largest  animal ;  and,  accord- 
ing to  Humboldt,  it  has  been  found  necessary  to  change  the  line 
of  certain  roads,  owing  to  the  number  of  horses  that  were  an- 
nually killed  in  passing  through  the  pools  frequented  by  the 
gymnoti.  These  eels  are  eaten  by  the  Indians,  who,  before  at- 
tempting to  capture  them,  seek  to  exhaust  their  electrical  power 
by  driving  horses  into  the  ponds.  By  repeated  discharges  upon 
these,  they  gradually  expend  the  marvelous  force;  after  which, 
being  defenseless,  they  become  timid,  and  approach  the  edge  for 
shelter,  when  they  fall  an  easy  prey  to  the  harpoon  of  the  Indian. 
It  is  only  after  long  rest  and  abundance  of  food  that  this  fish  is 
able  to  resume  the  use  of  its  subtle  weapon. 


CHAPTER  Vll. 

FROGS,  TOADS,  NEWTS,  AND  OTHER  AMPHIBIANS. 

(Class  Amphibia.) 

S  distinguished  from  the  Class  Reptilia,  which  contains 
the  turtles,  tortoises,  snakes,  lizards,  crocodiles,  etc., 
the  Class  Amphibia  is  made  to  contain  such  groups  of 
amphibious  animals  as  those  arrayed  under  the  Uro- 
dela  (Siren,  Proteus,  Menobranchus,  Amphiuma,  Menopoma,  and 
Cryptobranchus),  the  Anura  (as  frogs,  toads,  hylas,  etc.),  the 
Peromela  (Coecilia,  etc.),  and  the  Labyrinthodonta  (fossil  forms). 

In  the  fauna  of  the  United  States  we  have  many  of  this  Class 
of  the  Tertebrata  represented,  as  for  example  we  have  among  the 
Urodela,  the  Siren  (Siren  lacertina),  the  Proteus  (Necturus),  the 
Congo  snake  (Amphiuma  means),  the  Three-fingered  siren  (Mu- 
rwnopsis  tridactylus),  the  Hellbender  (Menopoma),  a  great  many 
salamanders  (Amblystoma),  a  host  of  tritons  and  their  allies 
(Plethodon,  etc.,  etc.);  while  among  the  Anura  we  have  all  the 
frogs  (Rana,  etc.),  the  toads  (Bufo,  etc.),  and  the  Tree  frogs 
(Hyla,  etc.). 

During  the  last  fifteen  years  many  of  these  forms  have  been 
treated  by  me  in  a  variety  of  publications,  but  it  is  evident  that 
in  a  brief  chapter  like  the  present  one  it  will  be  quite  out  of  the 
question  to  do  more  than  to  briefly  refer  to  some  of  the  better 
known  United  States  Amphibia,  and  thus  incite  the  reader  to 
carry  his  investigations  further,  and  consult  other  volumes  upon 
their  life-histories.  As  I  have  said  in  another  chapter,  we  stand 
very  much  in  need  of  exhaustive  and  recent  treatises  upon  both 
the  Reptilia  of  this  country,  as  well  as  the  Amphibia.  Nearly  or 
quite  all  of  our  systematic  works  upon  these  subjects  are  now 
antiquated.  Professor  Cope,  at  his  death,  left  the  manuscripts 
for  a  fine  volume  treating  of  them,  and  I  presume,  sooner  or 
later,  it  will  be  published  by  the  United  States  National  Mu- 
seum, but  just  how  much  of  the  ground  it  will  cover  I  am  at  this 
writing  unable  to  state. 

A  good  many  years  ago  I  had  the  opportunity  to  study  a  very 
good  representative  of  one  branch  of  the  Urodela  group,  at  New 
Orleans,  Louisiana.  It  was  the  Three-toed  siren,  there  called,  in 


92  CHAPTERS    ON    THE    NATURAL    HISTORY 

common  with  another  form,  the  Congo  "  eel."  My  species,  how- 
ever, was  Murcenopsis  tridactylus,  while  Anipliiiuna  means  is  more 
properly  known  as  the  Congo  eel  among  the  people  in  the  regions 
where  it  occurs.  Still  both  Htircenopsis  and  Aniphiuma  nte<inx 
bear  this  name  among  the  negroes  and  less  intelligent  people  of 
the  South,  who  also  call  them  "  lampreys/'  and  dread  them  as 
they  would  rattlesnakes.  Of  course  they  are  in  no  way  whatever 
venomous,  but  they  will  bite.  A  small  one,  which  I  kept  in  a 
tank  of  water,  if  roughly  handled,  w^ould  curl  up,  slowly  open  his 
mouth,  and  make  an  awkward  longe  at  the  fingers  or  hand  that 
held  him.  Sometimes  he  would  only  open  his  mouth  and  hiss  in 
a  subdued  manner.  On  one  occasion,  however,  this  reptile  suc- 
ceeded in  getting  out  of  his  tank  during  the  night,  and  when  I 


FIG.   23.     LIFE-SIZE   HEAD  OF  Murcenopsis  tridactylus.      Adult. 

Drawn  from  the  living  specimen  by  the  Author. 

found  him  in  the  morning,  in  a  distant  part  of  the  room,  he 
snapped  at  me  quite  savagely  several  times  before  he  was  re- 
taken. 

It  was  interesting  to  observe  his  method  of  leaping  out  of  his 
tank  of  water,  which  by  seven  or  eight  inches  was  not  full.  He 
swam  round  and  round  with  increasing  rapidity  till  the  neces- 
sary impetus  was  acquired,  when  he  would  prettily  make  a  sort 
of  a  spring  over  the  side  of  the  tank  on  to  the  floor,  where  he 
would  squirm  round  like  an  eel  until  replaced.  In  such  situations 
he  uses  his  feeble  legs  to  the  full  extent  to  which  they  seem  ca- 
pable of  being  put;  in  the  water,  too,  these  members  are  con- 
stantly brought  into  use,  the  fore-pair  when  he  desires  to  move 
very  slowly  forward,  in  which  case  he  may  or  may  not,  generally 
not,  use  the  hind  pair  in  aiding  the  action.  The  fore-pair  are 


OF    THE    UNITED    STATES  93 

also  used  alternately  to  push  himself  one  way  or  another,  when 
he  wishes  to  change  his  course.  A  common  use  for  the  hind-pair 
is  to  throw  them  forward  and  brace  them  against  the  ground  he 
may  be  passing  over,  in  order  to  check  his  onward  movement, 
either  partially  or  entirely.  In  swimming  about  he  has  all  the 
appearance  of  the  common  eel  ;  and  during  these  times  he  draws 
both  pairs  of  limbs  close  beside  his  body,  when  his  action  is 
graceful  and  interesting  to  behold. 

When  these  sirens  are  at  rest  they  either  stretch  out  in  gentle 
curves,  sluggishly  along  the  bottom,  or,  what  is  not  very  un- 
common for  them  to  do,  curl  up  tightly,  in  a  spiral  manner,  the 
latter  two-thirds  of  their  length,  while  the  head  and  remaining 
third  is  protruded  forward  in  a  direct  line.  In  this  curious 
position  they  float  near  the  surface,  the  head  being  lowermost. 
If  two  occupy  the  same  vessel  they  often  curl  about  each  other 
in  rather  an  affectionate  manner  ;  but  I  have  never  witnessed 
them  quarrel  or  fight.  One  time  I  threw  a  dead  king-snake  into 
the  tub  of  my  first  small  specimen,  the  snake  being  at  least  three 
times  as  long  as  the  siren.  Imagine  my  surprise  to  see  him  fly 
at  the  intruder,  seize  him  just  below  the  head,  straighten  out  as 
stiff  as  he  could,  then  rapidly  whirl  round,  as  a  drill  does,  caus- 
ing the  dead  snake  to  be  spirally  coiled  about  his  body.  A 
moment  of  quietude  followed  this  strange  maneuver,  during 
which  time  one  could  see  a  crunching  movement  on  the  part  of 
the  jaws  of  the  siren  going  on  ;  but,  finding  his  enemy  showed 
no  resistance,  he  slowly  let  go  his  hold,  and,  freeing  himself  from 
the  dead  snake's  coils,  swam  about  the  tank  without  paying  him 
any  further  attention.  In  a  few  moments,  however,  I  repeated 
the  experiment,  when  he  made  the  same  attack  with  just  as  much 
vigor  as  before  ;  but  all  subsequent  trials  failed,  and  I  could 
never  induce  him  to  take  further  heed  of  such  a  harmless  enemy. 

This  siren  will  eat  crayfish  in  confinement  ;  but  I  never  could 
induce  one  to  take  anything  else,  although  rawT  meat  was  the 
common  bait  used  by  the  negroes  in  catching  them  for  me. 
Sometimes  before  a  meal,  or  maybe  after,  your  captive  will  swim 
gracefully  about  his  limited  quarters,  and  occasionally  rise  to  the 
surface,  stick  his  nose  out  of  the  water,  and  give  vent  to  a  loud, 
blowing  sound,  that  may  be  heard  anywhere  in  a  large  room, 
even  if  conversation  be  going  on.  As  already  remarked  above, 
my  collectors  usually  took  such  specimens  as  they  brought  me, 
with  the  ordinary  hook  and  line,  baited  with  fresh  meat  ;  but 


94  CHAPTERS    ON    THE    NATURAL    HISTORY 

very  often  they  are  captured  in  hand  dip-nets,  or  even  thrown  out 
of  a  shallow  drain  or  bayou  with  a  stick.  They  are  most  often 
seen  after  heavy  rains,  when  their  usual  places  of  resort  are 
flooded  over.  Usually  when  taken  they  are  at  once  dispatched 
and  wantonly  mutilated,  so  great  is  the  detestation  in  which  they 
are  held  by  the  people  of  the  South.  They  are  extremely  te- 
nacious of  life,  and  may  be  cut  all  to  bits,  and  still  move  after 
the  lapse  of  half  an  hour.* 

Before  passing  to  the  consideration  of  the  next  group,  I  would 
say  that  many  recent  writers  place  both  of  the  Urodela  noted 
above,  in  the  same  genus  as  A.  means,  the  Two-fingered,  and  A. 
tridactylum,  the  Three-fingered  siren;  the  latter  being  the  species 
I  have  described.  We  stand  much  in  need  of  full  descriptions 
of  the  life-histories  and  morphology  of  our  other  United  States 
Urodela. 

If  now  the  question  be  asked.  What  is  a  salamander? — that  is, 
the  representative  of  the  next  group  of  these  Urodela — it  may  be 
said  that  all  sorts  of  opinions  in  history,  both  past  and  present, 
have  been  entertained  as  to  what  the  nature  of  a  salamander  is. 
Aristotle,  who  wrote  when  science  wras  comparatively  in  its  in- 
fancy, believed  that  there  were  some  animals  so  constituted 
that  they  were  incombustible.  In  proof  of  this  he  cited  the  sal- 
amander, which,  "  when  it  walks  through  fire,  extinguishes  it." 
.Elian,  too,  evidently  believed  this  to  be  the  case,  and  although 
he  is  careful  to  state  that  salamanders  are  not  born  of  fire,  nor 
is  that  their  natural  habitat,  yet  when  the  bellows  of  the  forger 
fails  to  quicken  the  flame  on  his  forge,  there  is  a  salamander  near, 
and  the  only  remedy  is  to  find  and  destroy  it.  Pliny,  another 
sage  of  early  time,  firmly  declared  that  the  saliva  of  a  sala- 
mander applied  to  any  part  of  the  body  whatever  would  cause 
the  hair  to  fall  out  ;  consequently  we  find  Dioscorides  referring 
to  prepared  salamander  oil  to  be  used  as  a  depilatory.  According 
to  Pliny,  too,  the  salamander  was  of  cold  complexion,  and  had 
the  power  of  emitting  a  cold,  venom-like  aconite,  but  of  such  a 
virulent  nature  that  it  poisoned  the  wood  of  trees  over  which  the 
animal  crept,  and  bread  baked  with  such  timber  would  kill  who- 
ever ate  of  it.  WTiat  was  mythical  and  fabulous  in  the  writings 
of  the  early  authors,  passed  down  writh  medieval  history  as  act- 
ual beliefs — beliefs  strongly  impregnated  with  similar  absurd- 

*  In  Science  (Vol  2.  No.  27,  Aug.  10,  1883,  pp.  159-163).  I  have  given  rather  full'noteB  upon  the 
anatomy  of  <1f.  fri<l<i<-li/lii/t,  with  still  more  on  its  habits  than  I  am  enabled  to  present  here.  Its  skull 
and  other  parts  of  its  skeleton  are  also  there  figured. 


OF    THE    UNITED    STATES  95 

ities.  This  is  seen  in  that  remarkable  work  of  the  time,  the 
Pln/siologus,  which  still  taught  that  a  salamander  could  quench 
fire.  But  the  Arabic  Physioloyus  taught  that  it  was  a  stone 
that  possessed  that  property.  Later,  asbestos  proved  to  be  the 
stone  in  question,  asbestos  was  the  salamander  of  Marco  Polo, 
and  a  kind  of  incombustible  cloth  was  manufactured  from  its 
fibers.  Thus  the  Arabs,  who  knew  not  whether  a  salamander 
was  beast  or  bird,  and  in  some  way  mixed  it  up  with  the  Phoenix, 
came  to  believe  that  asbestos  cloth  was  made  either  from  the 
feathers  or  else  the  hair  of  a  salamander.  So  Bacon  and  some 
other  writers  of  his  time  called  asbestos  salamander's  wool. 
Cabalistic  moderns  refer  to  the  spirits  of  fire  as  the  salamanders 
of  that  element,  and  it  is  by  no  means  uncommon  even  to-day  to 
find  people  in  plenty  who  still  have  the  salamander  myth  in  their 
minds,  and  will  innocently  ask  if  such  a  creature  does  not  really 
exist,  and  possess  the  power  to  pass  unharmed  through  an  ordi- 
nary fire,  quickly.  I  know  a  captain  in  our  army  whom  I  never 
could  convince  that  those  spiny-coated  lizards  of  the  west,  popu- 
larly known  as  "  horned  toads,"  were  not  "  some  kind  of  a 
salamander,  or  a  crustacean,  that  could  pass  unharmed  through 
the  flames  of  a  camp-fire."  And  another  officer  of  the  same  regi- 
ment, more  open  to  conviction,  had  his  mind  disabused  by  me 
of  the  belief  it  had,  that  larval  salamanders  and  the  famous 
"  Gila  monster"  were  one  and  the  same  animal,  and  that  their 
"  bieath  was  poisonous,"  and  would  cause  certain  death  to  the 
person  who  unfortunately  happened  to  breathe  it. 

In  Europe,  from  the  very  earliest  times  down  to  the  present 
day,  all  the  tail-bearing  amphibia  were  considered  by  nearly 
everybody  to  be  salamanders,  and  consequently  popularly  asso- 
ciated with  the  mythical  creatures  so  named  by  the  ancient  and 
medieval  writers. 

Over  a  century  and  a  quarter  ago,  or  in  1768,  a  naturalist  by 
the  name  of  Laurenti  designated  a  genus  of  vertebrated  animals 
of  the  Class  Amphibia,  as  the  genus  8alainandra,&ud  to  this  genus 
biologists  now  restrict  all  the  typical  forms  known  to  us  as  sal- 
amanders. They  are  most  interesting  creatures  to  study,  and  it 
is  hardly  necessary  to  add  that  they  are  not  possessed  of  any  of 
the  remarkable  powers  which  the  writers  of  the  middle  ages, 
and  both  before  and  since,  would  have  us  believe. 

Taken  in  connection  with  what  has  been  pointed  out  above, 
it  may  be  said  that  the  Salamandrida  is  a  subgroup  of  the 


96  CHAPTERS    ON    THE    NATURAL    HISTORY 

Cnnlela,  and  it  is  in  its  first  division,  the  Mecodonta,  that  we 
find,  among  numerous  other  genera,  the  genus  Salamandra. 

Salamanders  are  found  distributed  very  generally  over  nearly 
the  whole  of  Europe,  especially  the  central  and  southern  parts, 
and  they  occur  also  in  Syria  and  in  Algiers.  Great  Britain,  or 
the  British  Isles,  lacks  them  entirely,  nor  are  the  salamanders 
found  in  the  fauna  of  the  United  States.  These  truly  harmless 
little  creatures  secrete  themselves  under  the  debris  of  the  forest, 
in  damp  and  shady  localities,  where  they  feed  upon  numerous 
kinds  of  insects  and  worms.  They  are  viviparous,  the  thirty  or 
forty  eggs  of  the  female  parent  developing  in  the  oviducts  at  one 
time,  and  the  young  when  born  being  deposited  in  sluggish, 
stagnant  water,  where  they  live  and  grow  for  some  time.  To  the 
biologist  the  development  of  the  young  of  the  salamander  offers 
a  chapter  in  science  of  great  interest  and  importance,  as  they 
pass  through  a  series  of  stages,  or  a  metamorphosis  of  a  very  in- 
structive nature.  Neither  physiologically  nor  structurally  are 
they  for  some  time  as  high  in  the  animal  scale  as  the  parent  ani- 
mals. In  other  words,  among  other  things,  they  possess  external 
feather-like  gills,  and  consequently  are  comparable  with  the 
adults  of  a  group  of  creatures  lower  in  the  scale  of  creation  than 
Salamandra — I  refer  to  the  Perennibranchiata. 

I  have  said  that  we  have  no  true  salamanders  in  the  United 
States,  but  what  we  do  have,  are  a  number  of  genera  of  amphib- 
ians, the  representatives  of  which  are  more  or  less  nearly  allied 
to  Salamandra,  and  of  these  genera,  the  genus  Amblystoma  is 
especially  rich  in  forms,  being  variously  distributed  all  over  the 
country. 

Some  naturalists  have  fallen  into  the  habit  of  calling  them 
salamanders,  and  in  reality  in  external  appearance  one  of  our 
American  "  Elfs "  or  amblystouias  closely  resembles  a  conti- 
nental salamander.  Like  the  latter,  the  young  pass  through  a 
"  tadpole  stage,"  and  a  "  perennibranchiatal  stage,"  before  as- 
suming the  adult  form.  In  the  latter  condition  they  live  in  the 
fresh-water  pools,  have  four  limbs,  and  breathe  by  gill-slits,  that 
possess  feather-like  external  gills.  To  better  appreciate  the  ap- 
pearance of  the  adult  of  one  of  these  creatures,  I  submit  here  a 
drawing  of  our  "  tiger  salamander"  (AmUystoma  tigrinum),  made 
from  a  photograph  that  I  succeeded  in  obtaining  in  New  Mexico. 
During  the  aquatic  existence  of  one  of  these  amblystomas  they 
are  known  in  Mexico  and  Southwestern  United  States  as  the 


i-^C 

m 


OF    THE    UNITED    STATES  99 

axolotl,  what  Cuvier,  the  great  French  naturalist,  for  a  long  time 
thought  to  be  an  elf  tadpole.  He  was  the  more  certain  of  this, 
inasmuch  as  they  can  in  this  immature  stage  reproduce  their 
kind!  Axolotls  were  even  referred  by  naturalists  to  a  different 
genus — Siredon,  and  were  there  retained  for  a  long  time.  Some 
of  them  were  kept  and  studied  with  great  interest  in  aquaria 
at  the  Jardin  des  Plantes,  at  Paris,  and  it  was  here,  to  the  aston- 
ishment of  all,  that  their  true  nature  was  revealed.  Without  any 
apparent  reason  one  of  the  specimens  one  day  suddenly  was 
transformed  into  an  adult  amblystoma,  and  the  fact  threw  a 
flood  of  light  into  the  natural  history  of  the  entire  group.  Since 
that  time  they  have  been  studied  by  biologists  all  over  the  world, 
and  the  writer  of  the  present  w^ork  had  an  excellent  oppor- 
tunity to  gratify  his  owrn  tastes  in  that  direction  during  a  so- 
journ in  New  Mexico  for  a  period  of  five  years.  Through  the 
Smithsonian  Institution  I  sent  upward  of  300  of  the  living  young 
of  the  k*  tiger  salamander  "  (see  Fig.  25)  over  the  United  States 
and  Europe,  where  they  were  very  generally  distributed  in  the 
biological  laboratories  of  the  various  institutions  of  learning 
(see  Science,  Sept.  25,  1885).  Fingers  and  toes,  and  even  more  of 
the  limbs  of  these  creatures,  will  reproduce  themselves  after 
having  been  amputated,  and  this  is  also  an  interesting  fact  about 
them. 

Personally,  I  have  never  examined  the  Spotted  salamander  of 
Europe,  but  we  read  that  the  "  body  is  covered  with  warty 
glands,  W7hich  secrete  a  milky  fluid  of  a  glutinous  and  acrid 
nature,  like  that  of  a  toad,  and  which,  if  not  capable  of  affecting 
the  larger  and  more  highly-organized  animals,  appears  to  be  a 
destructive  agent  to  some  inferior  species.  Thus  Laurenti  pro- 
voked two  gray  lizards  to  bite  a  salamander,  which  at  first 
attempted  to  escape  from  them,  but  being  still  persecuted, 
ejected  some  of  this  fluid  into  their  mouths  ;  one  of  the  lizards 
died  instantly,  and  the  other  fell  into  convulsions  for  two  min- 
utes, and  then  expired.  Some  of  this  juice  was  introduced  into 
the  mouth  of  another  lizard ;  it  became  convulsed,  was  paralytic 
on  the  whole  of  one  side,  and  soon  died.  This  account  is  the  only 
foundation  for  the  long-cherished  notion  of  the  power  possessed 
by  the  salamander,  and  attaching  to  it  the  reputation  of  being 
one  of  the  most  venomous  of  animals."  The  same  writer  asserts 
that  "  a  copious  secretion  of  this  fluid  might  damp  a  moderate 
flame  for  an  instant  or  two  to  which  a  salamander  had  been 


100  CHAPTERS    ON    THE    NATURAL    HISTORY 

committed,  and  the  animal  gutter  no  barm/'  and  this  accounts  for 
the  other  long-cherished  myth!  Myth  and  miracle  both  have 
their  origin  in  ignorance,  and  the  only  radical  cure  for  either 
affection  known  to  me,  is  a  heroic  dose  of  a  full  knowledge  of 
the  facts  pertaining  to  any  particular  subject. 

A  marvelous  variety  of  interesting  forms  are  included  in  the 
Anura,  being  represented  in  this  country  principally  by  the 
FROGS  (Rana,  Scaphiopus,  Spea,  Hyla,  Acris,  and  others)  and  by 
the  TOADS  (Bufo) ;  while  in  other  parts  of  the  world  both  of  these 
groups  have  a  vast  number  of  genera  and  species,  and  a  third 
group  is  found  created  to  contain  the  Surinam  toad  (Pipa)  and 
Xenopus  (Dactylethra  capensis).  They  have  been  classified  upon 
their  anatomical  peculiarities,  but  this  classification  must  still 
be  considered  in  a  degree  provisional,  until  worked  out  in  greater 
detail  and  more  extensive  comparisons  made. 

The  forms  and  appearances  of  typical  frogs,  a  Cricket  frog, 
toads  and  tree-toads,  are  so  well  known,  even  to  casual  ob- 
servers, that  space  will  be  gained  here  by  the  omission  of  de- 
tailed descriptions.  The  literature  upon  this  division  of  the 
Amphibia  is  quite  profuse,  and  the  student  to  gain  a  good  knowl- 
edge of  the  subject  should  read  such  books  and  articles  as  the 
very  excellent  work  by  Prof.  St.  George  Mivart,  F.K.S.,  on  "  The 
Common  Frog  "  (1881) ;  Prof.  Huxley's  article  "Amphibia,"  in  the 
ninth  edition  of  the  Encyclopedia  Britannica;  Gunther's  Cata- 
logue of  the  Batrachia  Salientia;  Prof.  Cope's  numerous  works; 
Mi vart's  essay  "On  the  Classification  of  the  Anurous  Batrach- 
ians;"  the  anatomical  contributions  of  the  Parkers,  of  Owen, 
of  Gegenbaur,  of  Sabatier,  and  many  other  writers.  From  these 
one  will  gain  very  general  information  upon  the  geological  his- 
tory of  frogs  and  toads;  upon  their  general  and  special  structure 
and  habits;  their  distribution  and  their  classification.  All  adult 
frogs  and  toads,  as  the  name  Anura  implies,  are  tailless,  possess- 
ing as  they  do  four  well-developed  limbs,  and  short,  squatty 
bodies,  large  mouths,  scaleless,  smooth  skins,  big  eyes;  and 
they  may  be  with  or  without  tongue,  and  with  or  without  teeth. 
Many  of  them  habitually  live  in  the  water,  while  others  only  re- 
sort to  that  element  for  the  purpose  of  depositing  their  egg- 
masses.  In  the  reproduction  of  young  frogs  they  pass  through 
changes  (metamorphoses)  corresponding  to  the  development  of 
young  fish.  Anyone  who  has  studied  "  pond-life  "  is  familiar 
with  the  jelly-like  mass  of  eggs  deposited  in  the  water  by  female 


OF    THE    UNITED    STATES 


101 


frogs,  these  ova  being  impregnated  by  the  male  at  the  time  of 
their  passage.  In  due  course  of  time,  depending  largely  upon 
the  temperature,  these  eggs  hatch  out  the  young  tadpoles,  that 
pass  through  various  stages  to  young  frogs.  These  stages  are 
exceedingly  interesting  to  study,  and  the  far-reaching  chapter 
they  cover  in  biology  will  more  than  repay  the  young  naturalist 
who  will  collect  a  mass  of  these  eggs,  take  them  home,  and,  plac- 
ing them  in  the  proper  conditions,  watch  all  the  details  of  the 


FIG.  25.     COMMON  BULLFROG. 

One-half  natural  size.     From  a  photograph  by  the  Author. 


development,  with  a  complete  treatise  upon  amphibian  reproduc- 
tion at  hand. 

Tadpoles  of  the  Anura  subsist  upon  a  vegetable  diet,  while  the 
adult  frog  lives  upon  insects,  crustaceans  and  the  smaller  fishes. 
It  is  said  that  our  common  Bull-frog  takes  about  five  years  to 
attain  its  full  growth,  and  its  life  is  supposed  to  extend  to  about 
ten  years  more  thereafter.  They  have  a  host  of  enemies;  as 


102  CHAPTERS    ON    THE    NATURAL    HISTORY 

num.  and  many  other  mammals,  raptorial  birds,  and  snakes  and 
other  reptiles.    Some  fishes  also  prey  upon  them. 

In  the  June  number  of  Appleton's  Popular  Science  Monthly 
(1896)  I  contributed  an  article,  entitled  "  Frogs  and  their  Uses," 
it  being  illustrated  by  a  reproduction  of  a  photograph  of  our 
Bullfrog  (Rana  catesbiana)  (p.  181),  and  this  figure  is  given  here 
as  one  well  showing  the  external  form  of  this  species. 

Mivart  claims  a  frog  to  be  "'  a  tailless,  lung-breathing,  branch- 
iate vertebrate,  with,  four  limbs  typically  differentiated,  under- 
going a  complete  metamorphosis,  and  provided  with  teeth  along 
the  margins  of  the  upper  jaw."  This  last  character  is  one  that 
distinguishes  the  frogs  from  the  toads,  while  from  other  batrach- 
ians  the  frogs  are  at  once  separated  by  the  absence  of  a  tail. 
Both  frogs  and  toads  hibernate  in  the  winter,  coming  forth  in  the 
spring.  The  process  of  development  in  toads  is  very  similar  to 
that  of  the  frogs,  only  the  eggs  are  strung  out  in  links  instead  of 
being  in  a  mass.  These  long  chains  of  eggs  are  drawn  out  of  the 
body  of  the  female  by  the  hind  legs  of  the  male,  while  she  is  in 
the  water. 

In  this  country  we  also  have  in  the  Northern  and  Eastern 
States  one  of  the  best  known  of  all  those  little  arboreal  batrach- 
ians,  vernacularly  known  as  tree-toads,  or  more  properly — tree- 
frogs,  though  I  will  call  them  "  toads  "  here,  because  they  are  so 
generally  known  as  such.  This  is  the  northern  tree-toad,  or,  as  it 
is  called  by  others,  the  chameleon  liyla.  Hi/la  is  the  scientific 
appellation  of  the  genus  to  which  all  the  true  tree-toads  have 
been  referred;  and  our  common  tree-toad  is  called  H.  versicolor, 
from  the  w7ell-known  fact  that  it  possesses  the  power  of  varying 
the  shade  of  its  skin.  At  certain  times  this  little  toad  is  of  a  very 
pale  ash  color  above,  variegated  with  marbled  markings,  while 
beneath  it  is  nearly  white,  and  the  low^er  and  inner  sides  of  the 
thighs  are  of  a  beautiful  yellow,  with  a  few  darker  maculations. 
From  this  livery  I  have  seen  it  slowly  pass  through  a  pale  olive 
shade  to  one  of  a  rich  snuff-browrn,  with  the  mottlings  on  the 
back  nearly  black,  while  very  little  change  was  to  be  observed 
upon  the  lower  parts.  This  all  happened  when  the  creature  was 
placed  on  a  very  dark  and  wet  piece  of  pine  bark  in  a  closed  jar. 
An  hour  later,  when  I  returned  to  look  at  him,  he,  with  another 
individual  of  the  same  species,  had  crept  beneath  the  bark,  and 
were  close  against  the  glass,  and  by  this  time  had  assumed  the 
palest  possible  tint  of  gray,  with  the  marbling  very  distinct 


FIG.  26.     TREE-TOADS  (Hyla  versicolor). 

From  life.     Photographed  by  the  Author. 


OF    THE    UNITED    STATES  105 

again  on  the  back.  When  one  comes  to  study  them  closely  the 
eyes  of  one  of  these  tree-toads  are  very  beautiful  structures,  as 
are  the  eyes  of  our  common  toads. 

It  took  me  over  an  hour  one  summer's  afternoon  to  secure  a 
good  photograph  of  a  pair  of  tree-toads,  and  I  found  them  far 
more  difficult  subjects  than  many  young  birds  I  have  succeeded 
with  in  half  the  time.  They  have  a  habit  of  suddenly  moving,  or 
even  jumping,  when  one  least  expects,  and  as  an  exposure  of 
half  a  minute  had  to  be  given  them,  owing  to  the  very  small  dia- 
phragm used,  the  task  came  to  be  one  of  great  difficulty.  One 
might  be  easy  enough,  but  two  was  a  contract.  Their  jumps  are 
of  a  very  extraordinary  character,  for  they  can  not  only  spring 
some  considerable  distance,  but  they  are  able  to  hit  the  point 
they  start  for  with  a  remarkable  degree  of  accuracy.  In  my 
photograph  (Fig. 26)  the  upper  specimen  is  just  balancing  himself 
for  a  leap,  and  from  this  attitude  he  can  launch  into  the  air  for 
two  or  three  feet,  and  with  certainty  land  upon  any  selected  leaf 
in  a  tree  he  may  care  to,  it  being  no  bigger  than  the  leaves  shown 
in  the  picture.  They  can  also  jump  to  a  horizontal  place,  alight- 
ing back  downward,  and  a  vertical  plane  surface  gives  them 
no  trouble  at  all  to  land  upon.  All  this  is  accomplished  by 
means  of  the  little  disk-like  suckers  on  the  under  side  of  the  ends 
of  each  and  all  the  toes  and  fingers.  No  doubt  the  moisture  ever 
present  on  the  under  side  of  the  body  aids,  too,  in  their  sticking  to 
the  variously  inclined  surfaces  they  alight  on  in  their  leaps 
among  the  leaves  and  branches  of  their  haunts. 

Frequently,  when  at  rest,  a  tree-toad  will  assume  the  posture 
seen  in  the  lower  specimen  of  my  photograph,  and  it  is  when  thus 
resting  that  they  give  vent  to  their  peculiar  pipings  during 
cloudy  or  rainy  weather.  Often  I  have  heard  them  set  up  a 
clamorous  chorus  in  the  night  time,  and  they  are  simply  tremen- 
dously noisy  during  the  breeding  season.  Some  claim  that  these 
tree-toads  likewise  possess  ventriloquial  powers,  that  deceive 
the  ears  of  those  in  pursuit  of  them,  but  I  have  relied  only  upon 
my  eyes  to  capture  all  the  specimens  taken  by  me.  The  large, 
handsome  insect  in  Fig.  26  is  a  more  or  less  abundant  species  in 
the  summer  time  in  many  localities.  Children  call  it  a  "knicker," 
from  the  contrivance  it  has  for  springing  or  snapping  up,  when 
placed  upon  its  back.  In  science  we  call  it  Alaus  ocelata,  the 
more  respectable  name,  I  think,  and  fully  as  descriptive. 

Tree-toads  subsist  largely  upon  various  kinds  of  insects  that 


106  CHAPTERS    ON    THE    NATURAL    HISTORY 

they  capture  in  the  trees  where  the}'  live.  There  are  about  a 
dozen  other  species  of  hylas  found  in  the  southern  and  western 
parts  of  this  country,  while  the  species  now  being  described  is 
likewise  found  in  the  west.  On  one  occasion  I  remember  cap- 
turing four  large  specimens  of  them  in  the  crevices  of  the  dark 
moss-covered  rocks  that  inclosed  a  well-known  spring  near  Fort 
Wingate,  New  Mexico.  It  wras  marvelous  to  see  how  closely 
their  mottled  skins  matched  the  rocks  upon  which  they  were, 
both  in  color  and  appearance. 

These  tree-toads  will  live  a  long  time  without  taking  either 
food  or  water;  they  exhibit  but  little  evidence  of  inconvenience 
from  such  treatment,  even  after  a  fortnight,  and  then  if  they 
have  access  to  fresh  water  they  appear  as  well  as  ever.  Many 
times  I  have  kept  them  with  the  hope  of  studying  their  mode  of 
reproduction,  but  have  never  succeeded  in  getting  them  to  breed 
in  captivity. 

The  history  of  the  true  toads  (Bufo)  is  full  of  interest,  and 
would  fill  a  goodly  volume.  One  of  their  chief  characters  con- 
sists in  the  large,  protuberant  wrarts  on  their  skin,  which  secrete 
an  acrid  fluid,  very  obnoxious  to  carnivorous  animals,  and  prob- 
ably protects  them  against  their  attacks.  These  batrachians 
have  four  toes  in  front  and  five  behind,  as  in  the  frogs.  On  the 
latter  they  are  joined  usually  by  complete  webs  of  membrane. 
In  speaking  of  the  Common  toad  of  Europe  (B.  vulgaris)  a  popu- 
lar writer  at  hand  truly  remarks  that  instances  have  occurred  of 
these  animals  having  been  found  imbedded  in  indurated  clay,  the 
solid  trunks  of  trees,  and  even  in  rocks,  where  it  was  believed 
they  had  remained  for  years,  perhaps  for  ages;  yet  on  being  lib- 
erated, came  fully  to  life.  The  general  opinion  of  scientific  nat- 
uralists is,  that  these  accounts  are  either  untrue  or  inaccurate. 
They  believe  that  toads  may  subsist  for  a  long  time,  perhaps 
for  years,  with  very  little  food  or  air,  and  that  they  may  have 
been  found  apparently  inclosed  in  solid  substances,  but  that  in 
point  of  fact  there  was  some  crack  or  crevice  through  which  they 
obtained  air  and  small  insects  sufficient  to  support  life. 

The  "  croakings  "  of  toads  and  frogs  are  often  very  remark- 
able, and,  taken  in  connection  with  the  anatomy  of  their  voice 
organs,  well  worthy  of  study.  Shakespeare  speaks  of  the  myth 
of  the  jewel  in  the  head  of  a  toad,  and  this  is  probably  founded 
upon  the  great  beauty  of  its  bright  eyes,  in  which  the  iris  fre- 
quently has  all  the  brilliancy  of  a  fine  opal  or  sapphire. 


OF    THE    UNITED    STATES  107 

It  is  interesting  to  note  the  method,  by  the  use  of  its  very  exten- 
sible tongue,  how  toads  capture  their  insect  prey — so  different 
from  the  frog,  that  leaps  at  it  with  gaping  jaws.  In  fact,  there  is 
so  much  to  write  about  pertaining  to  these  curious  animals,  that 
the  danger  is  one's  pen  may  run  away  with  its  holder,  and  so  I 
very  reluctantly  bring  this  chapter  to  a  close,  and  only  trust 
that  it  may  incite  the  reader  to  look  more  carefully  into  the 
literature  of  the  Amphibia  and  record,  what  we  much  need,  fuller 
histories  of  our  United  States  forms  of  them. 


CHAPTER  VIII. 

SOME  OBSERVATIONS  ON  LIZARDS. 

(LacertUia.) 

E  very  much  need  a  complete  treatise  upon  the  United 
States  Reptilia,  fully  illustrated,  with  a  companion 
volume  upon  the  Amphibia  of  this  country.  No  such 
work  has  as  yet  been  published,  and  our  herpetologists 
are,  at  this  writing,  still  depending  upon  a  literature  of  the  sub- 
ject, which  is  rapidly  becoming  more  or  less  antiquated.  Usu- 
ally, naturalists  include  in  the  Reptilia  a  variety  of  orders  of  ex- 
tinct reptiles,  as  well  as  the  more  modern  groups  of  Crocodilia, 
LacertUia,  Ophidia,  and  Chelonia,  while  in  the  Amphibia  we  find 
the  Urodela,  the  Anura,  the  Peromela,  and  the  Labyrinthodonta. 

Such  a  work  should  fully  review  up  to  date  the  entire  history 
and  literature  of  the  subject;  give  the  general  characters  of  the 
Class  Reptilia;  their  taxonomy  or  classification;  their  morphol- 
ogy or  anatomy;  the  known  extinct  forms  of  Keptiles  and  Am- 
phibians (palaeontology) ;  and  the  distribution  and  biology  of  the 
existing  orders. 

It  is  possible  that  the  U.  S.  National  Museum  may  publish 
before  long  a  valuable  work  upon  our  United  States  reptiles,  as 
I  am  aware  that  shortly  before  his  lamented  death,  Professor 
E.  D.  Cope  had  completed  a  work  of  the  kind. 

As  Dr.  Gtinther  of  the  British  Museum  has  remarked,  "  The 
name  Lizard  (Latin  lacerta)  originally  referred  only  to  the  small 
European  species  of  four-legged  reptiles,  but  is  now  applied  to  a 
whole  order  (Lacertilia),  which  is  represented  by  extremely  nu- 
merous species  in  all  temperate  and  tropical  parts  of  the  globe. 
Lizards  may  be  described  as  reptiles  with  a  more  or  less  elon- 
gated body  terminating  in  a  tail,  and  with  the  skin  either  folded 
into  scales  (as  in  snakes)  or  granular  or  tubercular;  legs  are 
generally  present — usually  four,  rarely  two  in  number — but 
sometimes  they  are  reduced  to  rudiments  or  entirely  hidden  be- 
low the  skin;  the  jaws  are  toothed,  and  the  two  mandibles  firmly 
united  in  front  by  an  osseous  suture.  Eyelids  are  generally  pres- 
ent. The  vent  is  a  transverse  slit,  and  not  longitudinal,  as  in 


OF    THE    UNITED    STATES  109 

Crocodilians.  Other  structural  characteristics,  especially  of  the 
skeleton,  separate  lizards  from  the  other  orders  of  reptiles."  We 
have  a  large  number  of  species  and  subspecies  of  lizards  in  this 
country — a  list  altogether  too  long  to  think  of  enumerating  here. 
One  of  my  first  contributions  to  herpetology  was  published  as 
long  ago  as  1881  by  the  TJ.  S.  National  Museum,  the  paper  giving 
a  description  of  the  skeleton  of  our  legless  lizard,  popularly 
known  as  the  "  glass-snake  "  (Ophisaurus).  This  very  interesting 
and  perfectly  harmless  lizard  is  quite  common  in  the  woods  of 
our  Southern  States.  A  good-sized  one  may  attain  a  length  of 
eighteen  or  twenty  inches,  being  of  a  serpentine  form,  with  no 
external  legs.  When  struck  smartly  with  a  stick,  the  "  glass- 
snake  "  usually  fractures  into  a  number  of  pieces,  but  all  the  seg- 
ments are  post-anal,  and  really  only  take  place  in  the  tail  of  the 
reptile.  There  is  a  popular  notion  that  these  pieces  may  come 
together  again,  and  grow  so  that  complete  recovery  results,  and 
things  were  as  before  the  injury,  but  this  is  only  one  of  not  a  few 
zoological  myths  still  entertained  by  the  uninformed.  The 
"  Glow-worm  "  of  Europe  (Anguis)  is  a  similar  kind  of  lizard, 
possessing  an  equal  brittleness  of  its  caudal  extremity. 

Those  Spined  or  Horned  lizards  (Phrynosoma)  of  the  western 
part  of  our  country,  called  Horned  toads  by  so  many  people,  are 
not  toads  at  all,  but  are  representatives  of  one  of  the  most  in- 
teresting genera  of  lizards  we  have  in  our  fauna. 

As  I  said  when  writing  to  The  American  Naturalist  from  New 
Orleans  in  1883,  about  our  American  chameleon  (Anolis  princi- 
palis),  that  under  all  circumstances  lizards  are  interesting  crea- 
tures, meet  them  where  we  may;  as  one  evidence  of  this,  how 
often  do  we  find  them  chosen,  and  that,  too,  for  many  ages  gone 
by,  as  objects  to  adorn  pottery,  vases,  and  china,  or  modeled  in 
silver  and  gold  to  be  worn  as  jewelry,  or  cast  in  the  baser  metals 
for  other  purposes,  such  as  bronze  ornaments.  There  is  some- 
thing very  mysterious  at  times,  in  their  very  look,  their  dignified 
mien,  their  almost  provoking  silence;  this  is  changed  in  us  to  a 
sense  of  curious  interest  that  is  quickened  as  the  reptile  assumes 
its  livelier  air,  darts  along  the  tree  branch  that  it  may  be  on,  or 
shoots  with  the  rapidity  of  an  arrow  up  the  trunk  of  some  old 
tree.  This  singular  interest  amounts  to  positive  fascination  as 
we  come  to  know  the  Anolidai,  and  I  assure  you  our  little  Ameri- 
can chameleon  is  one  of  the  most  engaging  of  the  group,  at  the 
same  time  being  one  of  the  commonest  of  all  the  lizards  found 


110  CHAPTERS    ON    THE    NATURAL    HISTORY 

throughout  the  lowlands  ot  Louisiana;  indeed,  I  have  known  in- 
stances of  two  or  three  children  capturing  as  many  as  twenty- 
five  or  thirty  in  some  old  magnolia  grove  in  the  course  of  an  hour 
or  two,  and  we  may  well  imagine  the  number  that  would  escape 
from  our  juvenile  collectors.  It  is  certainly  the  exception, 
though,  that  any  one  ever  disturbs  or  injures,  either  in  city  or 
forest,  this  inoffensive  and  harmless  little  creature;  entitled  as 
we  are,  however,  to  claim  this  for  ourselves,  it  must  be  remem- 
bered, and  it  is  a  fact,  not  commonly  known,  that  in  the  town  and 
its  immediate  neighborhood  the  chameleon  has  an  uncompro- 
mising enemy  in  the  domestic  cat.  This  animal,  I  have  been  in- 
formed upon  undoubted  authority,  will,  when  the  opportunity 
presents  itself,  pass  anything,  meat,  birds,  and  even  fish,  if  there 
is  the  slightest  chance  of  securing  one  of  these  lizards,  of  which 
it  seems  to  be  so  inordinately  fond.  The  cat  will  stalk  one,  just 
as  wre  all  have  seen  them  attack  some  unsuspecting  sparrow. 
Should  the  lizard  be  on  the  trunk  of  a  tree,  and  low  down  near 
the  ground,  and  the  cat  miss  it  in  her  spring,  she  will  frequently, 
in  her  disappointment,  chase  it  up  the  tree,  where  of  course  the 
reptile  wins  in  such  an  unequal  race. 

In  the  forest,  Anolis,  no  doubt,  has  many  another  animal  foe 
that  makes  it  its  prey.  Our  smaller  hawks  often  seize  and  de- 
vour them,  when  they  appear,  and  are  exposed  in  the  open. 

In  addition  to  this,  the  chameleon  is  subject  to  other  acci- 
dents; its  long  tail  is  frequently  broken  off;  this  may  grow  out 
again  as  it  does  in  Ophisaurus,  though  I  have  in  my  possession  a 
specimen  where  this  extremity  healed  over  instead.  Another 
specimen  in  my  collection  has,  some  time  or  other,  apparently 
long  anterior  to  capture,  lost  a  foot ;  in  this  case  a  very  pretty  lit- 
tle stump  has  resulted,  leaving  a  member  of  considerable  use. 

I  have,  perched  up  before  me,  one  of  these  little  fellows  that 
was  taken  for  my  special  benefit  several  days  ago ;  the  reader  is 
presented  with  a  very  careful  and  accurately  measured  drawing 
that  I  have  made  of  him.  They  sometimes  attain  a  length  to  ex- 
ceed this  one,  by  two  or  three  centimeters,  rarely  more.  His  en- 
tire form  is  covered  with  the  most  delicate  and  minute  scales, 
which  are  found  to  be  larger  along  the  borders  of  the  jaws  and 
top  of  the  head,  where  they  are  regularly  arranged.  The  nostrils 
are  seen  within  the  rounded  border  of  the  snout  above,  and  the 
bright,  black  little  eyes  peep  out  through  longitudinal  slits  form- 
ing the  eyelids,  the  latter  being  at  the  base  of  rather  sunken 


OF    THE    UNITED    STATES  113 

orbits.    The  oral  gape  is  capacious,  and  the  aperture  leading  to 
the  internal  ear  is  found  a  few  millimeters  to  the  rear  of  its  com- 
missure.   In  some  specimens  a  jet  black  patch  is  found  between 
the  eye  and  ear,  and  another  above  the  forearm  on  the  side,  sur- 
rounded by  a  whitish  border;  one  or  both  of  these  markings  may 
be  absent,  the  anterior  "one  being  by  far  the  most  persistent. 
During  deep  inspiration  eight  ribs  may  be  counted  on  either  side 
of  this  lizard's  body;  these  rarely  show  when  the  specimen  is  at 
rest  and  in  good  condition.    See  what  peculiar  feet  he  has,  par- 
ticularly the  hinder  pair,  and  I  have  taken  unusual  pains  to  rep- 
resent these  correctly,  and  to  the  best  advantage.    The  fore  feet 
are  arranged  quite  symmetrically,  but  the  toes  on  the  rear  pair 
can  be  spread  out  as  shown  in  the  cut,  or  drawn  down,  side  by 
side,  to  form  a  very  narrow  and,  we  must  own,  much  more  sightly 
foot.     Lying  in  the  median  plane,  beneath  the  throat  and  reach- 
ing back  as  far  as  the  sternal  space,  Anolis  possesses  a  peculiar 
ornament;  this  consists  in  a  fold  of  the  common  integument,  con- 
trolled by  an  exceedingly  interesting  apparatus  that  gives  it  the 
power  of  protruding  downward  and  slightly  forward  at  will, 
carrying  the  fold  with  it,  to  fully  the  extent  shown  in  the  figure, 
or  even    more.     Upon    complete   retraction    this    appendage    is 
scarcely  discernible.     Its  sudden  appearance  has  a  very  striking 
eft'ect,  as  the  skin  of  which  it  is  composed  is  of  a  bright  red  color, 
being  decked  over  with  the  white  scales,  which  are  here  larger 
than    usually  found  elsewhere  on  the  body,  that  stand  apart  by 
the  stretching.     Out  of  the  large  number  of  specimens  that  I 
have  examined  alive,  this  curious  aft'air  never  appeared  to  be 
missing,  though  in  some  it  was  very  much  more  prominent  than 
in  others,  so  we  are  forced  not  to  attach  to  it  any  sexual  distinc- 
tion.    The  males  are  also  crested  along  the  dorsum,  another 
feature  wrhich  becomes  more  prominent  when  this  reptile  is  ex- 
cited.    Under  nearly  all  conditions  the  ventral  parts  of  Anolis, 
except  the  continuity  of  the  tail,  are  white,  longitudinally  striped 
writh  irregular  dusky  lines  that  are  much  more  decided  at  the 
throat,  and  almost  amount  to  a  mottling  on  the  belly  and  chest. 
A  certain  amount  of  mottling  occurs  high  up  and  along  the  back. 
This  lizard  can  assume,  apparently  at  will,  one  of  two  colors,  or 
an  irregularly  distributed  combination  of  both  of  them;  these 
colors  are  a  bright  pea-green,  the  alternative  being  a  very  hand- 
some shade  of  brownish-bronze,  very  dark  in  some  old  specimens, 
very  light  in  others. 


114  CHAPTERS    ON    THE    NATURAL    HISTORY 

The  first  time  he  comes  under  your  observation  he  may  be  de- 
scending the  trunk  of  some  old  cypress;  you  pause  and  cau- 
tiously approach  him;  he  gradually  slows  down  his  advance  to  a 
deliberate  walk,  then  stops,  slowly  raises  the  fore  part  of  his 
body,  turns  his  head  to  one  side,  and  surveys  you  with  a  pecul- 
iarly knowing  gaze,  and  perhaps  even  coldly  winks  once  or 
twice,  at  long  intervals.  While  this  performance  is  going  on  his 
entire  body  becomes  a  dead  brownish-bronze,  ever  and  anon  im- 
perceptibly flushing  a  lighter  tint.  You  make  a  step  nearer,  and 
he  suddenly  wheels  and  heads  his  course  up  the  trunk,  squatting 
very  low  as  he  does  so;  you  come  still  a  little  nearer,  and  he  ad- 
vances up  the  tree  in  a  spiral  direction,  until  he  is  on  the  opposite 
side  of  the  trunk  and  out  of  your  sight.  At  this  moment  per- 
haps the  thought  seizes  you  to  effect  his  capture,  and  you  spring 
forward  to  head  him  off;  but  in  his  cunning  he  has  outgeneraled 
3011;  he  is  nowhere  to  be  seen  on  the  sides  of  the  rugged  old 
trunk;  so  for  a  more  general  inspection  you  back  away  a  few 
steps,  when,  to  your  surprise,  far  above  your  head  you  behold 
him  stretched  out  along  the  first  horizontal  limb  that  extends 
from  the  main  trunk.  Who  would  believe  it,  though;  who  would 
take  him  for  the  same  nimble  little  fellow  that  had  just  escaped 
your  attack.  He  is  now  almost  completely  clothed  in  a  suit  of 
bright  green,  his  crimson  gular  pouch  protruding  and  retracting, 
reminding  one  of  the  opening  and  shutting  of  some  tropical  but- 
terfly in  the  noon-day  sun.  At  other  times,  when  the  surround- 
ing circumstances  seemed  to  demand  it,  he  would  have  donned  a 
coat  made  up  of  irregular  patches  of  the  two  colors,  with  their 
various  shades,  at  his  command.  This  power  of  protective  mim- 
icry on  the  part  of  Anolis,  for  as  an  example  of  this  we  must 
certainly  regard  it,  serves  him  best  when  he  resorts,  which  he 
frequently  does,  to  the  bright  green  stalks  of  certain  fresh-water 
reeds  and  plants  that  are  found  growing  luxuriantly  about  the 
bayous  and  canals  of  his  native  haunts.  It  was  in  some  such 
locality  as  this  that,  the  other  day,  I  observed  one  of  the  pretties! 
examples  of  this  very  same  protective  resemblance,  that  OIK* 
would  care  to  witness,  almost  equal  to  that  famous  butterfly  that 
Wallace  so  admirably  figures  in  his  work  upon  the  Malay  Archi- 
pelago, now  so  familiar  to  all  of  us. 

I  had  just  scrambled  over  one  of  these  so-called  canals,  that 
divided,  by  the  aid  of  an  old  fence,  an  extensive  marshy  trad 
from  a  deserted  field;  this  field  was  overgrown,  in  addition  to 


OF    THE    UNITED    STATES  115 

various  other  kinds  of  undergrowth,  with  a  tall,  bright-green, 
ribbon-like  grass.  As  I  pushed  my  way  into  this,  a  shower  of 
grasshoppers  arose,  making  off  in  every  direction;  by  accident, 
however,  I  discovered  that  two  species  did  not  resort  to  this 
mode  of  escape.  One  of  these  was  of  a  shade  of  green  that  nearly 
matched  the  grass  in  question;  the  other,  larger,  was  about  the 
shade  of  the  grass  after  it  was  dead  and  dried  by  the  sun.  They 
both  had  about  the  same  form ;  the  head  wqs  long  and  pointed  in 
front,  its  apparent  length  increased  by  the  insect  bringing  its 
antennae  together  and  sticking  them  out  straight  forward.  Be- 
hind, the  wrinkled  wings  trailed  out  to  a  sharp  point,  like  the 
pointed  extremities  of  the  grass  blades,  and  the  heavy  pair  of 
limbs  that  spring  from  the  metathorax  were  long  and  slender, 
so  as  to  assist  it  in  the  deception.  These  insects,  upon  being 
alarmed,  instead  of  taking  to  flight  as  the  other  varieties  did, 
simply,  and  with  marked  deliberation,  shuffled  down  backward 
to  the  pointed  end  of  one  of  the  leaves  upon  which  it  was  resting 
at  the  time,  and  quietly  hung  there,  where  it  demanded  a  pretty 
sharp  pair  of  eyes  to  detect  them,  particularly  if  a  breeze  kept 
the  grass  in  motion  at  the  time. 

Chameleons  placed  in  alcohol  for  preservation  change  in  all 
manners  of  ways;  the  larger  share  of  the  green  usually  disappears, 
the  under  parts  often  becoming  so  mottled  as  to  mask  the  white 
entirely;  it  commonly  brings  out  in  strong  relief  the  longitudinal 
stripes  on  the  gular  space;  the  mottling  on  the  upper  parts  is 
likewise  made  far  more  evident  than  in  the  living  reptile.  The 
iris  of  Anolis,  during  life,  is  of  a  bright  hazel,  with  a  perfectly 
round  pupil.  When  taken  in  the  hand,  they  generally  throw  the 
jaws  apart,  and  viciously  seize  any  part  of  that  member  that  may 
come  within  their  reach.  The  bite  of  the  larger  specimens  is 
quite  a  severe  little  nip,  but  I  have  never  seen  a  case  where  their 
delicate  teeth  could  inflict  a  wound  of  sufficient  depth,  so  as  to 
bring  the  blood.  They  will  hang  on  for  a  long  time,  longer 
usually  than  our  patience  will  hold  out,  and  it  generally  results 
in  our  detaching  them  by  the  free  hand.  No  doubt,  as  trifling  as 
this  bite  may  be,  it  often  saves  the  life  of  our  chameleon,  as  the 
unsuspicious,  or  children  who  pick  them  up  out  of  curiosity's 
sake,  upon  being  suddenly  pinched  in  that  way,  are  very  apt  to 
involuntarily  wring  the  hand  until  the  lizard  looses  its  hold  and 
promptly  makes  its  escape  in  the  grass  or  elsewhere. 

During  the  morning  hours,  among  the  trees,  the  chameleons 


116  CHAPTERS    ON    THE    NATURAL    HISTORY 

are  rarely  seen,  but  as  the  sun  approaches  the  zenith,  and  the 
recesses  of  the  forest  begin  to  be  thoroughly  warmed,  these  little 
fellows  may  be  observed  descending  the  trunks  of  the  trees  to 
engage  in  their  favorite  hunting  expeditions,  about  the  gnarled 
roots  that  are  exposed  above  the  ground  at  their  bases.  Here 
they  capture  all  manners  of  insects,  which  constitute  their  food, 
and  it  is  during  these  feeding  times  that  we  have  the  opportunity 
to  behold  some  of  their  quaintest  movements.  I  was  so  fortu- 
nate, not  long  ago,  as  to  catch  one  in  the  act,  the  instant  after  he 
had  made  a  successful  spring  upon  rather  a  large  butterfly.  The 
body  of  the  insect  was  in  his  mouth,  while  the  wings  were  vio- 
lently flapping  at  the  side  of  the  lizard's  face.  The  reptile  would 
clinch  his  jaws  together  spasmodically  two  or  three  times,  shut- 
ting his  eyes  with  a  very  tight  squeeze  each  time  he  did  so.  At 
last  his  prey  was  silent,  when  with  a  few  energetic  kicks  he  tore 
off  the  creature's  wings,  and  disposed  of  his  body  MIIIX  ccrcmoHic. 

Anolis  principalis  no  doubt  renders,  by  its  constant  destruction 
of  these  insects  which  infest  the  trees  of  our  Southern  cities,  a 
great  service,  and  that,  too,  in  a  very  modest  and  unassuming 
way.  In  this  respect  how  much  better  they  are  than  that  miser- 
able and  noisy  little  foreigner,  the  so-called  English  sparrow, 
that  we  have  taken  so  much  pains  to  introduce  and  foster;  a  bird 
now  found  in  every  city  of  our  Union,  from  Boston  to  New  Or- 
leans, in  alarming  numbers;  I  say  alarming,  because  I  know,  full 
well,  as  every  ornithologist  in  the  land  knows,  that  the  day  is 
sure  to  come  when  we  shall  have  seen  enough  of  his  dappled 
brown  coat,  so  constantly  and  impertinently  intruded  upon  us, 
at  the  expense  of  our  own  avian  favorites,  and  we  shall  learn  to 
regard  him,  perhaps  only  when  it  is  too  late,  as  one  of  the  agri- 
cultural pests  of  the  Fnited  States. 

The  season  approaches  when  Louisiana,  recovering  from  the 
temporary  shock  caused  by  her  mock  winter,  again  puts  forth  the 
natural  jewels  of  her  animal  and  vegetable  kingdoms,  again  pre- 
sents us  with  fresh  flowers  and  fresh  fields,  after  so  short  a  re- 
lapse. Birds  onc*e  more  stream  northward,  mammals  throw  off 
their  semi-torpidity  and  resume  their  usual  a  vocal  ions.  In  the 
overflown  bayous,  rendered  almost  unendurable  by  an  a  linos 
phere  charged  with  the  aromatic  odors  of  a  budding  Southern 
spring,  we  at  this  time,  too,  see  the  gaudy  representatives  of  the 
reptilian  world  gradually  make  their  several  appearances.  Frogs 
croak,  livlas  peep,  and  in  some  sunny  nook  the  deadly  moccasin 


FIG.  28.    GIL  A  MONSTERS  (Heloderma  suspectum),  AND  DOUGLASS'S 
HORNED  TOAD  (P.  douglassii). 


From  life,  and  considerably  reduced. 


OF    THE    UNITED    STATES 


119 


warms  his  snuff-brown  coils,  alone,  dreaded  and  shunned.  All 
rejoice  that  this  happy  season  once  more  opens,  and  the  feeble 
grasp  of  the  winter  god  is  withdrawn.  Where  is  Anolis  now?  we 
have  not  far  to  go,  indeed,  to  find  our  bi-colored  masquerader; 
see  the  emerald-clad  scamp  as  he  eyes  you  from  the  brawny  limb 
of  the  pecan,  under  which  you  stand.  But  what  is  he  up  to! 
You  quietly  watch  him,  and  his  employment  seems  to  be  of  such 
a  nature  that  he  soon  completely  ignores  you,  and  proceeds  with 
it  at  all  risks,  and  at  all  costs.  The  mystery  is  soon  solved,  and 
we  can  readily  appreciate  this  agitation,  this  bowing  and  strut- 
ting and  all  manners  of  oddmotions,as  if  the  very  last  drop  of  his 
quaint  lacertilian  blood  was  on  fire — for  coyishly,  and  with  all 


FIG.  29.     RIGHT  LATERAL  VIEW  OF  THE  HEAD  OF  HELODEKMA 

SUSPECTUM. 

Life  size.     From  a  photograph  of  the  living  specimen,  by  the  Author. 

due  deference,  reclines  before  his  lordship  his  chosen  mate,  ex- 
erting her  every  chameleonic  power  to  hide  her  blushes  by  vain 
endeavors  to  match  the  colored  pattern  of  her  couch,  with  all  the 
bronzes  and  browns  at  her  command.  He  can  withstand  her 
charms  no  longer,  and  for  the  moment,  laying  aside  all  dignity, 
and  the  object  of  his  affections  not  unwillingly  submitting,  in  the 
next  instant  finds  herself  in  the  passionate  embraces  of  her  lord, 
who,  to  make  sure  that  he  has  actually  won  his  coveted  prize, 
winds  about  her  lithe  form,  perhaps  in  some  mystic  love-knot,  his 
entire  caudal  extremity,  and  blinds  her  eyes,  first  on  one  side  and 


120  CHAPTERS    ON    THE    NATURAL    HISTORY 

then  on  the  other,  by  the  extension  of  the  flaming  ornament  at 
his  throat. 

What  a  very  different  reptile  we  have  in  our  big,  sluggish  Gila 
Monster  (Heloderma  suspectum)  of  the  southwestern  regions  of 
the  United  States.  These  large  lizards,  still  resting,  in  the  eyes  of 
ninny,  under  the  suspicion  of  the  charge  of  being  venomous,  I  have 
had  in  captivity  upon  several  occasions,  and  in  former  years  have 
written  and  published  a  great  deal  about  them.  In  Figs.  29-31, 
illustrating  the  present  chapter,  I  reproduce  some  photographs 
of  a  large  heloderma  that  I  had  for  a  long  time  alive,  and  these 
figures  originally  appeared  in  an  article  of  mine  in  a  New  York 
medical  journal  in  1891,  wherein  the  poisonous  bite  of  the  lizard 
was  fully  discussed  up  to  date.  There  will  also  be  found  many 
references  to  the  literature  of  the  subject,  and  a  comparison  of 
views  upon  the  poisonous  or  non-poisonous  character  of  the 
saliva  of  the  Gila  Monster.  In  1890  I  published,  with  several 
plates,  in  the  P.  Z.  S.,  of  London,  a  one-hundred  page  memoir 
upon  the  anatomy  of  two  species  in  the  genus  Heloderma — that 
is,  Jiorridum  and  suspectum,  and  eight  years  previous  to  that  I 
printed  in  The  American  Naturalist  an  account  of  a  severe  bite  I 
had  received  from  one  of  the  reptiles. 

Professor  E.  D.  Cope,  when  a  guest  at  my  house  a  number  of 
years  ago,  told  me  that  these  figures — that  is,  the  ones  illustrat- 
ing this  chapter — "  gave  a  better  idea  of  the  form  of  a  heloderma 
than  any  of  the  many  figures  that  had  thus  far  been  published, 
either  here  or  in  Europe."  Between  systematic  persecution  and 
the  greed  of  zoological  collectors,  the  Gila  Monsters  are  now 
becoming  very  scarce  in  those  regions  where  formerly  they 
were  abundant,  and  doubtless  at  the  end  of  another  half 
century,  not  one  will  be  found  in  nature  anywhere  in  the  terri- 
tory of  what  is  now  called  Arizona. 

While  at  Fort  Wingate,  in  New  Mexico,  I  also  had  a  photog- 
rapher make  me  a  picture  of  two  live  helodermas  I  there  had  at 
the  time.  These  are  reproduced  in  Fig.  28;  the  large  one  is  the 
same  specimen  shown  in  Figs.  29-31,  while  the  smaller  one  I 
dissected  from  the  London  anatomical  memoir.  This  figure  gives 
an  excellent  idea  of  how  these  handsome  lizards  appear  crawling 
over  the  rocks  in  n  state  of  nature.  Perched  up  on  top  of  one  of 
the  stones  will  also  be  seen  a  small  specimen  of  Douglass's 
Horned  Toad  (Phrynosoma  douglassii) .  Big  helodermas  may  at- 
tain a  length  of  twenty  inches,  they  being  orange  and  black  in 


li 


H  *S 

H  o 

S  1 

Q  ^ 


CO 

2 
fi 


OF    THE    UNITED    STATES  125 

color,  and  covered  with  hard,  rounded,  tuberculated  scales.  They 
are  very  fond  of  birds'  eggs,  either  raw  or  boiled,  but  prefer  them 
raw.  As  they  are  by  no  means  arboreal  in  habit,  they  can  only 
secure  such  eggs  of  birds  as  build  their  nests  upon  the  ground,  or 
else  very  near  it. 

Besides  the  helodernis,  I  found  while  in  New  Mexico  quite  a 
number  of  other  lizards,  but  they  were  all  of  the  smaller  species, 
perfectly  harmless,  and  with  more  or  less  interesting  habits.  The 
genus  ticcloporus  was  represented,  and  a  little  further  on  I  shall 
say  something  about  our  eastern  forms  of  these.  Another  pretty 
little  fellow7  was  found,  though  not  very  abundantly,  which  the 
Mexicans,  or  New  Mexicans,  called  the  Whipped-tailed  Lizard, 
and  which  is  more  generally  known  as  the  Collared  Lizard  (Grola- 
phytus  collar  is).  They  are  bright  pea-green  little  fellows,  orna- 
mented with  a  black  collar,  and  are  very  nimble  in  action.  From 
a  beautiful  living  specimen  of  one  of  these  I  secured  a  fine  photo- 
graph, and  this  is  reproduced  in  Fig.  32.  Crotaphytus  is  a 
wood  lizard,  and  is  found  in  the  heavy  pine  forests  of  New  Mex- 
ico, but  it  also  occurs  in  Texas,  Arizona,  Nevada,  Utah,  Arkan- 
sas, California,  Indiana,  and  elsewhere. 

The  lizard  called  the  ''Six-lined  Lizard"  has  a  somewhat  simi- 
lar distribution,  and  I  found  specimens  of  these  also  in  New  Mex- 
ico. They  are  beautiful  forms,  gentle,  shapely,  graceful,  and 
handsomely  marked  with  narrow,  jet-black,  longitudinal  lines 
upon  a  light-green  body. 

It  was  my  practice  to  capture  these  lizards  by  shooting  them 
with  a  cane-gun,  loaded  with  No.  13  shot;  it  was  the  very  rarest 
occurrence  that  they  could  be  secured  otherwise. 

In  making  photographs  of  various  species  of  our  lizards,  I 
found  them  to  be  a  much  easier  class  of  subjects  than  many  an- 
other kind  of  vertebrate,  as,  for  example,  any  of  the  snakes,  frogs, 
or  toads,  and  very  much  easier  than  any  of  the  land  tortoises  or 
the  turtles;  the  latter  constituting  a  very  difficult  class  of  sub- 
jects. 

Last  summer  several  successes  were  obtained  in  the  case  of  the 
common  little  alligator  lizard  so  plentiful  in  nearly  all  parts  of 
the  country.  This  is  the  Sceloporus  u.  undulatus  of  most  herpe- 
tologists,  but  as  the  pretty,  nimble  little  fellows  have  never  re- 
minded me  in  the  least  bit  of  an  alligator,  I  have  generally  desig- 
nated them  as  "wood  lizards,"  from  the  fact  that  they  are  very 
fond  of  running  up  trees,  and  are  rarely  found  out  in  the  open 


126 


CHAPTERS    ON    THE    NATURAL    HISTORY 


country.  These  interesting  little  reptiles  have  frequently  been 
kept  in  confinement  by  me  for  great  lengths  of  time.  A  good- 
sized  male  lizard  of  this  species  may  measure  as  much  as  seven 
or  eight  inches  long,  being  earthy  brown  above,  and  a  soiled 
white  beneath.  A  patch  of  brilliant  cobalt  blue  is  found  upon 
either  side  beneath,  bounded  with  a  deep  black,  while  the  back 
is  transversely  marked  with  wavy  bars  of  a  dark  tint.  Fig.  •">:> 
shows  the  male  of  one  of  this  species,  life  size;  I  got  him  just  as 


FIG.  32.     THE  COLLARED  LIZARD  {Crotaphytus  collaris) 

Photographed  from  life,  and  reduced  about  one-third. 

he  jumped  from  my  finger  on  to  the  pine  limb  upon  which  he  is 
represented;  so  his  attitude  is  perfectly  natural. 

In  captivity  this  lizard  will  readily  feed  upon  flies  and  many 
other  varieties  of  soft  insects.  They  will  also  breed;  the  female 
resembling  the  male  much  in  appearance,  although  she  is  lighter 
tinted  and  showrs  scarcely  any  of  the  cobalt  coloring  beneath.  I 
have  had  them  to  go,  as  a  matter  of  experiment,  for  two  or  three 
months  without  eating  or  drinking  anything  at  all,  and  then  they 
did  not  show  the  etl'ects  of  the  prolonged  fast  very  much.  How 


FIG.  33.     Sceloporus  undulatus. 

Life  size.     From  a  photograph  taken  by  the  Author. 


OF    THE    UNITED    STATES  129 

ever,  after  such  an  ordeal  they  always  appear  to  be  very  glad  to 
get  a  chance  at  some  big  fat  flies.  This  reptile  is  perfectly  harm- 
less, and  its  bite  amounts,  at  the  best,  to  but  a  good  little  nip,  its 
delicate  teeth  being  unable  even  to  break  the  skin,  So  far  as  my 
observations  go,  they  usually  lay  from  six  to  eight  pretty  white 
eggs  of  an  ellipsoidal  form,  placing  them  in  a  line  in  some  dry 
crevice,  either  in  an  old  dried  tree  trunk,  or  in  a  suitable  place  in 
a  rock.  Young  ones  are  extremely  cunning  little  fellows,  and 
active  from  the  very  first. 

Should  one  of  these  lizards  have  its  tail  fractured  oft  by  acci- 
dent, the  appendage  will  grow  out  again,  the  bones  being  re- 
placed by  firm  cartilaginous  nodules.  Sometimes  it  happens  that 
two  tails  take  the  place  of  the  one  lost,  a-s  I  have  seen  on  several 
specimens  of  the  American  chameleon  (Anolis  principaUs),  many 
of  which  species,  as  I  have  said  above,  were  captured  and  studied 
by  me  fourteen  or  fifteen  years  ago  at  New  Orleans,  La. 

Many  of  the  most  remarkable  lizards  in  the  world  are  found  in 
the  tropics,  especially  in  the  tropical  parts  of  the  East  and  West 
Indies,  Africa  and  South  America.  To  gain  a  full  knowledge  of 
the  class  Lacet'tlUa,  the  student  should  take  occasion  to  study 
these  as  far  as  opportunity  will  admit,  and  in  doing  so  especial 
attention  should  be  directed  to  such  species  as  the  Monitor  of 
the  Nile  (Monitor  nilot-mis);  to  the  peculiar  limbless  lizards  of 
Australia  (LiaJidw,  etc.);  to  the  Skinks  (Scincus);  to  the  various 
species  of  Iguanas  (J</n(tni(hr)  ;  to  the  various  so-called  Dragons 
(Draco);  to  the  truly  extraordinary  frilled  lizard  of  Queensland 
(Chldmydowurus) ;  to  the  rhaimeleons  of  Africa  and  Madagascar 
(Chamwleonj  etc.);  to  the  peculiar  Geckos  that  are  found  in  many 
parts  of  the  world,  and  have  the  most  remarkable  habits. 


CHAPTER  IX. 

PROTECTIVE  COLORATION  IN  SNAKES,  WITH  OTHER  NOTES 
ABOUT  THEM. 

(Ophidia.) 

PEAKING  of  protective  mimicry  and  protective  colora- 
tion in  snakes,  one  of  the  prettiest  examples  of  it 
known  to  me  among  those  reptiles  in  eastern  North 
America  is  often  seen  in  our  common  little  Summer 
snake,  described  by  naturalists  as  Cyclopliis  vcrnalis.  One  warm 
day  last  spring,  as  I  was  passing  through  a  thin,  broken  piece  of 
maple  woods,  with  an  undergrowth  of  brambles  and  bushes  of 
various  kinds,  my  attention  was  drawn  to  a  mass  of  smilax  vine, 
the  stems  of  which  were  as  green  as  green  could  be,  and  its  beau- 
tiful leaves  had  attained  only  about  half  their  full  size  and 
growth.  Something  moved  in  a  peculiar  gliding  manner  adown 
its  thorn-bedecked  branches,  that  was  of  a  shade  of  green  cor- 
responding exactly  with  that  of  the  vine  itself,  and  in  an  instant 
I  realized  that  it  was  a  large  specimen  of  the  Summer  snake.  The 
reptile  was  over  20  inches  long,  and  as  slender  as  the  lash  to  a 
boy's  whip.  It  was  of  a  very  pale  yellowish  green  upon  its  nether 
aspect,  while  the  entire  dorsum  was  of  an  emerald  hue.  Small 
and  delicate  in  structure,  its  oval  head  was  but  a  trifle  larger 
than  the  continuation  of  the  neck,  and  knowing  the  creature  to 
be  as  gentle  and  as  harmless  as  any  living  thing  in  the  world,  I 
carefully  drew  it  away  from  the  vine  with  my  hand,  and  coiled  it 
up  in  a  paper  cone,  which  I  duly  placed  in  my  pocket.  Then  with 
my  knife  I  cut  clear  the  very  part  of  the  vine  in  which  I  had  first 
discovered  the  Cyclophis,  and  with  this  I  came  direct  home,  be- 
fore the  leaves  had  any  opportunity  to  wilt.  Within  an  hour  a 
good  photograph  of  this  pretty  subject  was  obtained,  and  the  re- 
production of  this  is  shown  in  Fig.  34  of  the  present  chapter. 
These  gentle  little  snakes  are  preyed  upon  by  other  snakes,  by 
hawks  and  other  birds,  and  maybe  by  some  mammals.  So  their 
green  color  and  extremely  slender  form  greatly  protects  them 
against  their  enemies,  and  renders  them  far  less  likely  to  be  seen 
by  them.  Some  contend,  and  very  erroneously  I  think,  that  this 
particular  coloration  in  the  snake  is  to  make  it  less  likely  to  be 
observed  by  the  insects  upon  which  it  lives,  and  thus  insures  the 


FIG.  34.     SUMMER  SNAKE  (CydopMa  vernalix)  IN  SMILAX  VINE. 

One-third  natural  size.     Example  of  protective  coloration.     Photograph  by  the  Author  from  life. 


OF    THE    UNITED    STATES  133 

snake  of  a  more  certain  chance  of  getting  its  food  and  sustaining 
life. 

There  is  one  other  representative  of  this  genus  of  snakes  with 
us,  closely  resembling C.rernalisin  form  and  size, but  is  of  a  bright 
bluish-green  color,  instead  of  being  green;  and,  be  it  said  here,  it 
is  truly  remarkable  how  well  eA'en  this  tint  protects  the  creature 
in  many  situations  in  its  natural  haunts.  I  saw  this  especially 
among  the  bayous  of  lowrer  Louisiana,  where  this  snake  is  fre- 
quently to  be  observed  among  the  stalks  of  a  species  of  pond  lily 
that  are  likewise  of  a  bluish-green  tint,  and  for  one  of  which  it 
can  easily  be  mistaken.  Cyclophis  (estiva  is  the  name  science  has 
bestowed  upon  this  species,  and  its  delicate  scales  are  longitudi- 
nally keeled  or  carinated,  instead  of  being  smooth,  as  in  C.  vernalis. 
In  this  connection  -it  will  be  remembered  by  many  how  wrell  the 
coloration  of  the  various  species  of  Rattlesnakes  and  Moccasins 
protects  them  by  closely  matching  the  compositions  of  their  par- 
ticular environments.  Among  the  bogs  and  fens  found  in  cer- 
tain localities  about  Washington,  D.  (\,  I  found,  during  May, 
1S<)(>,  many  of  the  young  of  the  common  Water  Snake  (Xatrix  si- 
licdon),  and  these  little  dusky  colored  fellows  often  so  closely  re- 
sembled in  shade  the  blackish  mud  over  which  they  cautiously 
moved  as  to  nearly  escape  my  keenest  observation.  In  Fig.  35 
will  be  seen  the  reproducticn  of  a  photograph  I  made  last  spring 
of  the  young  of  this  very  species.  He  was  coiled  up  upon  the 
dark  earth,  where  grew  several  species  of  ferns  and  other  swamp 
plants;  and  where  lay  dead  twigs  and  leaves,  dark  and  stained  by 
partial  or  complete  decomposition.  His  form  was  hardly  to  be 
noticed  amid  such  growths  and  debris,  as  it  could  easily  be  mis- 
taken for  some  twisted  and  water-soaked  root  coiled  up  there. 
Indeed,  I  did  not  notice  him  until  he  began  to  take  himself  off. 

IJeddard  speaks  of  the  protection  in  snakes  often  being  due  to 
the  multiplicity  of  surrounding  objects,  and  says  when  "  a  con- 
jurer intends  to  surprise  his  audience  by  the  production  of  an  ob- 
ject from  some  unsuspected  quarter,  he  places  it  beforehand, 
with  no  attempt  at  concealment,  upon  the  table,  which  is  gener- 
ally covered  with  various  mysterious  objects  not  meant  in  the 
least  for  use.  It  is  concealed  until  the  right  moment  among  a 
multitude  of  objects,  some  more,  some  less  like  it.  Every  one 
knows  from  experience  how  difficult  it  is  to  find  an  object  which 
has  fallen  upon  a  carpet  with  a  complicated  pattern.  We  find 
exactly  the  same  principle  in  nature," 


134  CHAPTERS    ON    THE    NATURAL    HISTORY 

Professor  Drimimond  gives  a  good  instance  of  this  in  his  work 
upon  tropical  Africa.  "  One  of  the  most  beautiful  and  ornate  of 
all  the  tropical  reptiles  is  the  puff-adder.  This  animal,  the  bite 
of  which  is  certain  death,  is  from  three  to  five  feet  long  and  dis- 
proportionately thick,  being  in  some  parts  almost  as  thick  as  the 
lower  part  of  the  thigh.  The  whole  body  is  ornamented  with 
strange  devices  in  green,  yellow,  and  black;  and  lying  in  a  mu- 
seum its  glittering  coils  certainly  form  a  most  striking  object. 
But  in  nature  the  puff-adder  has  a  very  different  background. 
It  is  essentially  a  forest  animal,  its  true  habitat  being  among  the 
fallen  leaves  in  the  deep  shade  of  the  trees  by  the  banks  of 
streams.  Now,  in  such  a  position,  at  the  distance  of  a  foot  or 
two,  its  appearance  so  exactly  resembles  the  forest  bed  as  to  be 
almost  indistinguishable  from  it." 

Our  brilliantly  colored  little  Coral  snake  of  the  Southern 
States  (Elaps)  is  also  very  conspicuous  with  its  shiny  transverse 
bands  of  alternate  red  and  black;  but  this  serves  a  very  different 
purpose,  and  is  to  be  treated  under  the  subject  of  "  Warning  Col- 
oration," a  matter  our  space  will  not  admit  of  touching  upon  in 
this  chapter. 

While  engaged  last  spring  (1896)  in  making  photographic  pic- 
tures of  various  kinds  of  animals,  snakes  among  the  others  were 
by  no  means  overlooked  or  neglected.  In  using  the  word  animal 
here  I  do  so  in  its  zoological  sense,  for  when  a  naturalist  speaks 
of  an  animal,  he  may  or  he  may  not  mean  a  mammal,  which  is  the 
ordinary  application  of  the  term,  but  any  organized  form  from 
those  found  in  the  lowest  orders  to  the  highest,  including  even 
man.  As  thus  applied,  not  only  are  mammals  spoken  of  ns  ani- 
mals, but  such  types  as  birds,  frogs,  or  fish,  and  the  like. 

My  first  attempts  at  photographing  snakes  were  made  some 
five  or  six  years  ago,  when  several  fairly  good  pictures  of  the 
Blowing  viper  (H  etc  rod  on)  were  made;  but  these  were  by  no 
means  so  good  as  those  obtained  last  May,  at  which  time  various 
other  species  were  taken. 

During  the  year  just  mentioned  above,  there  occurred  about 
the  city  of  Washington,  in  the  District  of  Columbia,  an  unusual 
number  of  the  snake  known  as  the  Blotched  King  snake;  more, 
indeed,  than  any  of  this  species  that  had  ever  been  noticed  in 
this  locality  in  former  years.  It  is  a  harmless  snake,  that  may 
attain  the  length  of  some  thirty  inches,  or  rather  more,  and  is 
characterized  by  having  a  darkish  body,  lighter  beneath,  and 


FIG.  35.     YOUNG  OF  WATER  SNAKE  (Natrix  sipcdon). 

From  a  photograph  j;aken  by^the  Author,  and  intended  to  show  protective  coloration. 


OF    THE    UNITED    STATES  137 

blotched  over  with  numerous  irregular  spots  or  patches  of  a  bay 
or  pale  chestnut  color.  Formerly,  in  technical  parlance,  this 
species  was  known  as  Ophibolus  rJiombomaculatus,  but  the  ac- 
cepted general  name  is,  at  this  writing,  Lampropeltis.  Its  specific 
name  was  given  it  because  the  spots  or  blotches  upon  its  body 
most  frequently  were  rhomboidal  in  outline,  or  very  nearly  so. 
The  juvenile  collectors  in  my  vicinity  often  brought  me  in,  dur- 
ing the  time  mentioned,  numerous  examples  of  this  reptile;  and 
one  fine  morning,  there  being  an  unusually  handsome  example 
presented,  it  was  chosen  for  a  photograph.  A  small  forked 
branch  of  a  pine  tree  was  placed  in  position  in  the  proper  light  in 
my  studio,  and  his  snakeship  allowed  to  coil  himself  about  one 
of  the  limbs.  Being  a  little  sluggish  in  movement  at  first,  it  did 
this  in  a  very  deliberate  manner,  giving  me  abundant  time  after- 
ward to  focus  upon  the  subject.  After  my  shutter  to  the  camera 
had  been  closed  and  set,  and  the  slide  to  the  plate-holder  with- 
drawn, something  called  me  suddenly  away,  and,  upon  return- 
ing in  a  few  moments,  the  snake  had  partially  lowered  itself 
down  the  limb,  and  was  prepared  to  make  its  escape. 

I  cautiously  reached  for  the  pneumatic  bulb  of  the  shutter,  and 
succeeded  in  getting  a  hold  of  it  with  my  right  hand,  while  the 
movement  was  sufficient  to  cause  an  arrest  in  the  descent  of  my 
snake.  The  fore  part  of  its  body,  including  the  head,  was  out- 
stretched freely  into  space,  and  presented  a  beautiful  double 
curve. 

For  an  instant  I  observed  this  part  of  its  length  with  the  clos- 
est possible  scrutiny,  and  it  did  not  appear  to  move  in  the  least; 
but  my  diaphragm  was  of  very  small  aperture,  and  I  hardly 
dared  to  expose  the  plate.  Nevertheless,  we  must  take  many 
risks  in  such  matters,  and  expose  I  did,  with  a  very  firm  and 
steady  squeeze.  Then  in  a  few  seconds  the  shutter  was  slowly 
allowed  to  close,  and  the  attempt  completed.  TTpon  developing 
my  plate  it  proved  a  success,  and  the  reproduction  of  my  picture 
is  shown  in  Figure  3(>  of  the  present  chapter. 

\Ye  have  in  this  country  upward  of  two  dozen  species  and  sub- 
species of  King  snakes,  the  common  one  being  L.  g.  (/etui us — a 
very  handsome  reptile,  though  one  most  mercilessly  destroyed 
whenever  met  with  in  its  haunts  by  the  ignorant  and  thought- 
less. 


138  CHAPTERS    ON    THE    NATURAL    HISTORY 

Upsides  the  long  list  of  harmless  and  useful  snakes  in  this 
country,  belonging  to  many  genera,  we  have  three  kinds  of  ven- 
omous ones.  These  are  the  Rattlesnakes  (Crotalus,  caudisona), 
the  true  Moccasins  (Ancistrodon),  and  the  Harlequin  snakes 

(Efaps)* 

Taken  as  a  whole,  the  order  Oi>lii<li(i  of  the  Class  AY/>//7w  has 

been  created  to  contain  all  the  snakes,  closely  allied  as  they  arc 
to  Lizards  (Luccrtilia),  there  being  not  a  few  forms  that  connect 
the  two  groups.  Gtinther  tersely  characterizes  the  O/>/w/w  in 
the  following  terms:  Snakes  are  vertebrates  with  "an  exceed- 
ingly elongate  body,  cylindrical  or  subcylindrical,  and  termi- 
nating in  a  tapering  tail.  The  integuments  are  folded  into  flat 
imbricate  scales,  which  are  rarely  tubercular  or  granular.  The 
spinal  column  consists  of  a  very  great  number  of  vertebra*,  with 
which  the  numerous  ribs  are  movably  articulated.  Limbs  arc 
entirely  absent,  or  only  rudiments  of  the  posterior  occur  more  or 
less  hidden  below  the  skin;  there  is  no  sternum.  The  bones  of 
the  palate  and  jaws  are  movable;  the  mandibles  are  united  in 
front  by  an  elastic  ligament,  and  are  very  distensible.  Gener- 
ally both  jaws  and  the  palate  are  toothed,  the  teeth  being  thin 
and  needle-like.  There  are  no  eyelids,  no  ear-opening.  The  vent 
is  a  transverse  slit."  There  are  probably  about  2,000  snakes 
known,  and  many  more  yet  remain  to  be  described,  the  tropics 
being  the  region  in.  which  their  occurrence  is  most  abundant. 
There,  too,  do  we  find  the  most  venomous  as  well  as  the  largest 
forms  of  them. 

There  are  species  of  snakes  that  live  in  burrows,  rarely  coming- 
out,  and  there  are  snakes  that  habitually  live  upon  the 
ground,  while  others  are  typical  tree-snakes.  Besides  these 
there  arc*  fresh- water  and  sea  snakes;  the  latter  (with  the  excep- 
tion of  one  genus)  never  quitting  that  element. 

The  majority  of  the  ophidia  lay  eggs;  some,  on  the  other  hand, 
are  viviparous.  In  the  matter  of  food  they  vary  greatly:  the  non 
venomous  burrowing-snakes  subsist  principally  upon  insects  and 
other  invertebrates;  the  ground-snakes,  which  may  be  poisonous 
or  the  reverse,  live  largely  upon  various  vertebrata;  some  of 
the  tree-snakes  are  also  venomous,  and  they  prey  upon  arboreal 
animals  and  the  eggs  of  birds;  finally,  nearly  all  the  fresh-water 
snakes  are  innocuous,  and  they  live  upon  aquatic  animals,  which 
is  likewise  the  case  of  the  sea-snakes,  but  these  latter  are  all 
highly  poisonous.  In  habit,  we  meet  with  both  diurnal  and  noc 


FK;.  86.     THE  BLOTCHED  KING  SNAKE  (Lampropeltis  rhomboma- 

vulatus). 

From  a  photograph  from  life,  taken  by  the  Author.     About  one-third  natural  size. 


OF    THE    UNITED    STATES  141 

turnal  varieties,  while  as  a  rule  they  are  stationary  by  prefer- 
ence, remaining1  long  in  any  particular  locality,  or  as  long  as  the 
food  in  it  is  plenty.  In  them  the  action  of  the  ribs  takes  the  place 
of  limbs,  and  constitute  their  organs  of  locomotion,  the  various 
movements  of  snakes  being  a  very  interesting  study.  These 
movements  consist  in  their  action  upon  the  ground,  in  the  water, 
in  trees;  in  their  modes  of  attack;  in  their  fighting  each  other, 
and  in  copulation,  ovulation,  and  the  struggles  of  death.  As 
with  other  vertebrates,  snakes  are  classified  in  accordance  with 
their  anatomical  structure  and  habits.  Many  of  the  structural 
characters  found  in  snakes  are  worthy  of  the  closest  study.  For 
example,  the  difference  between  the  dental  armature  of  a  truly 
venomous  snake  and  an  innocuous  one  is  very  characteristic. 
The  pattern  of  the  tooth-marks,  when  the  teeth  of  either  kind  are 
driven  into  the  flesh,  are  distinctly  different.  In  the  case  of  a 
poisonous  snake,  we  note  the  two  roughly  parallel  rows  of  cen- 
tral teeth,  while  in  front,  upon  either  side  of  these,  the  row  of 
two  or  three  punctures  made  by  the  poison  fangs.  These  last 
two  rows  of  wounds  are  parallel  to  each  other.  Now,  the  two  rows 
of  central  tooth-punctures  in  a  harmless  snake  are  similar  to 
those  of  a  venomous  one,  but  the  difference  occurs  in  the  lateral 
or  outside  rows.  They  are  long  and  curved,  the  curves  corre- 
sponding to  those  of  the  upper  jaw  of  the  reptile,  the  entire  mar- 
gin of  which  is  usually  armed  for  its  whole  length  by  a  long, 
single  row  of  minute  teeth  upon  either  side,  but  the  rows  not 
meeting  in  front.  Then,  again,  there  is  that  interesting  struc- 
ture, the  "rattle"  of  the  rattlesnake,  and  upon  this  an  authority 
at  hand  has  said :  "  The  bone  by  which  the  root  of  the  rattle  is 
supported  consists  of  the  last  caudal  vertebrae,  from  three  to 
eight  in  number,  which  are  enlarged,  dilated,  compressed,  and 
coalesced.  This  bone  is  covered  with  thick  and  vascular  cut  is, 
transversely  divided  by  two  constrictions  into  three  portions,  of 
which  the  proximal  is  larger  than  the  median,  and  the  median 
much  larger  than  the  distal.  This  cuticular  portion  constitutes 
the  matrix  of  a  horny  epidermoid  covering  which  closely  fits  the 
shape  of  the  underlying  soft  part,  and  which  is  the  first  com- 
mencement of  the  rattle,  as  it  appears  in  very  young  rattlesnakes 
before  they  have  shed  their  skin  for  the  first  time.  When  the 
period  of  a  renewal  of  the  skin  approaches,  a  new  covering  of  the 
extremity  of  the  tail  is  formed  below  the  old  one,  but  the  latter, 
instead  of  being  cast  off  with  the  remainder  of  the  epidermis,  is 


142 


CHAPTERS    ON    THE    NATURAL    HISTORY 


n-t allied  by  the  posterior  swelling  of  the  end  of  the  tail,  forming 
now  the  first  loose  joint  of  the  rattle.  This  process  is  repeated 
on  succeeding  exuviations — the  new  joints  being  always  larger 
than  the  old  ones,  as  long  as  the  snake  grows.  Perfect  rattles, 
therefore,  taper  toward  the  point,  but  generally  the  oldest  (ter- 
minal) joints  wear  away  in  time  and  are  lost.  As  rattlesnakes 
shed  their  skins  more  than  once  every  year,  the  number  of  joints 
of  the  rattle  does  not  indicate  the  age  of  the  animal,  but  the  num- 
ber of  exuviations  which  it  has  undergone." 

Another  interesting  structure  is  found  in  our  common  Bull  or 
Pine  snake  (Pityopliis  sayi  bellona).  Years  ago,  when  I  was  as- 
sisting in  the  work  of  the  Keptile  Department  of  the  Smithsonian 
Institution,  Dr.  Charles  A.  White,  the  distinguished  paleontolo- 
gist, came  to  me  one  day  and  asked  if  I  had  ever  examined  the 


FIG.  37.     FLOOR  OF  THE  MOUTH  OF  A  BULL  SNAKE  (P.  ,s.  Mlona). 

Seen  directly  from  above  (reduced),     a,  Sheath  of  Tongue  ;  />,  Epiglottis ;  <-,  Glottis. 

peculiar  structure  of  the  epiglottis  in  the  Bull  snake,  and  how 
that  by  forcibly  blowing  and  the  consequent  violent  vibration  of 
the  epiglottis,  the  snake  could  produce  the  threatening  noise 
that  it  did.  Replying  in  the  negative,  I  further  remarked  that. 
the  fact  had  not  ever  been  published  that  I  was  aware.  Shortly 
after,  Dr.  White  gave  an  excellent  description  of  the  mouth  parts 
of  one  of  those  snakes,  and  it  was  published  in  Tin-  American 
XtttiiruUst  for  January,  1884  (p.  19).  My  own  figures  illustrated 
the  paper,  and  these  are  here  reproduced  in  Figs.  .'57  and  MS,  and 
will  show  how  the  vertical  plate  of  the  movable  epiglottis  />, 
standing  directly  in  the  middle  line  and  in  front  of  the  glottis  c, 
would  vibrate  whenever  the  breath  was  driven  out  of  the  aper- 
ture of  the  latter. 


OF    THE    UNITED    STATES  143 

Several  years  after,  Professor  Cope,  of  Philadelphia,  found  this 
structure  developed  in  other  genera  of  American  snakes,  and  he 
published  a  very  important  and  interesting  article  upon  the  sub- 
ject (Amer.  Nat.,  Feb.,  1891,  p.  156).  Bull  snakes  are  entirely 
harmless,  and  at  the  same  time  very  handsome  and  most  engag- 
ing reptiles  to  study.  It  was  in  The  American  Naturalist,  too, 
that  I  published  the  first  recorded  instance  of  our  common  Black 
snake  attacking  man.  It  was  a  personal  instance,  and  was 
printed  in  the  April  number  of  that  journal  for  1891. 

In  a  former  paragraph  of  this  chapter  it  was  stated  that  in  ac- 
cordance with  the  opinion  of  Dr.  Gtinther,  of  the  British  Mu- 
seum, that  the  ribs  of  snakes  were  their  principal  organs  of  loco- 
motion. I  do  not  altogether  concur  in  this  opinion,  but  rather 


FIG.  38.     LEFT  LATERAL  VIEW  OF  THE  HEAD  OF  A  BULL  SNAKE. 

Natural  size.    Lettering  the  same.     Drawn  as  in  Fig.  37  by  the  Author. 

incline  to  the  view  of  Packard  as  expressed  in  his  Zoology  (pp. 
496,  497).  This  eminent  American  naturalist  there  says:  "The 
peculiar  gliding  motion  of  snakes  is  effected  by  the  movements  of 
the  large  ventral  scales,  which  are  successively  advanced,  the 
hinder  edges  of  the  scales  resting  on  the  ground  and  forming 
fulcra;  resting  on  these,  the  body  is  then  drawn  or  pushed  rap- 
idly forward."  It  seems  to  be  now  a  well-settled  fact  that  snakes 
never  move  over  the  ground  by  alternate  bends  of  the  body's 
length,  the  movement  being  in  a  vertical  plane.  On  the  contrary, 
they  glide  over  the  surface  by  a  wriggling  motion  in  the  horizon- 
tal plane.  Then,  again,  in  striking  at  their  enemy  or  prey,  they 
never  entirely  quit  the  ground,  or  lose  contact  with  it.  The  part 
that  does  that  is  only  about  the  anterior  fourth  of  the  body, 


144  CHAPTERS    ON    THE    NATURAL    HISTORY 

which  is  suddenly  straightened  out  and  again  as  rapidly  with- 
drawn when  the  reptile  strikes.  Speaking  of  the  snake's  body, 
the  question  has  often  been  asked  me,  What  part  of  the  creature 
is  body  and  what  part  is  tail'!  The  answer  to  this  is  that  the 
body  and  tail  of  a  snake,  although  they  seem  to  imperceptibly 
merge  into  each  other,  are,  in  reality,  quite  distinct,  for  the  divid- 
ing line  is  at  the  animal's  anus,  beyond  which,  on  the  ventral 
,side,  the  arrangement  of  the  scales  is  usually  different. 

Several  times  every  twelve  months  most  snakes  shed  their  en- 
tire skin,  which  latter  normally  slips  off  in  one  unbroken  piece. 
The  surfaces  of  the  eyes  are  included  in  this  "  shed,"  and  it  is  dur- 
ing this  operation  that  snakes  are  popularly  pronounced  to  be 
blind.  The  brilliantly  colored  varieties  are  redoubled  in  their 
beauty  as  the  old  skin  comes  away.  An  adult  King  snake  is  truly 
a  lovely  object  to  behold  just  after  the  moult,  with  his  new,  shin- 
ing coat  of  gorgeous  black  and  yellow  coloring. 

The  accounts  of  young  snakes  of  certain  species  running  down 
the  throats  of  their  mothers  when  alarmed,  or  to  escape  danger 
of  any  kind,  are  now  well  authenticated,  and  such  statements 
can  doubtless  be  taken  as  true. 

In  closing  this  chapter  I  would  say  that  of  all  animals  that 
now  live  upon  the  globe,  or  ever  have  lived  upon  the  globe,  few 
there  are  that  can  boast  of  having  cut  a  more  remarkable  figure 
in  written  history  than  can  that  group  of  reptiles  which  for  ages 
have  been  known  as  snakes. 

From  time  immemorial  these  creatures  have  been  talked  about 
and  sung  about  by  nearly  all  the  races  of  people,  both  living  and 
departed;  their  written  history,  popular  and  scientific,  would  to- 
day make  of  itself  a  very  large  library  of  many  hundreds  of  vol- 
umes. Snakes  have  been  shunned  and  have  been  widely  perse- 
cuted; have  been  worshiped,  dreaded,  despised,  and  glorified. 
They  have  stood  as  emblems  of  wisdom,  of  evil,  and  of  deceit. 
They  have  played  their  part  in  witchcraft,  in  medicine,  and  have 
been  eaten  as  food.  Indeed  it  would  be  impossible  in  our  limited 
space  here  to  one-half  enumerate  the  many-faced  phases  their 
history  has  won,  especially  in  view  of  the  fact  that  better  pens 
than  mine  have  already  done  much  of  this  for  us.  However, 
science  will  be  well  served  if  young  and  observing  naturalists  in 
this  country  will  intelligently  make  records  of  the  habits  of  our 
snakes,  or  scientific  accounts  of  their  anatomy,  geographical  dis- 
tribution, and  all  else  pertaining  to  their  biology.  We  still  need 


OF    THE    UNITED    STATES  145 

a  great  deal  along  these  very  lines,  and  the  study  is  as  engag- 
ing a  one  as  any  naturalist,  young  or  old,  would  care  to  enter 
upon. 


CHAPTER  X. 

TURTLES    AND    TORTOISES. 

(Chelonia.) 

S  has  been  stated  in  a  previous  chapter,  naturalists 
place  all  the  existing  forms  of  turtles  and  tortoises 
in  an  order,  Chelonia,  it  constituting  one  of  the  groups 
of  the  Class  Reptilia.  There  are  upward  of  250 
species  of  them  known,  the  majority  of  which  are  fresh- water 
types,  being  most  numerous  in  tropical  and  sub-tropical  regions, 
where  the  country  is  well  watered  by  ponds,  rivers,  lakes,  and 
marshes.  Taken  as  an  assemblage  of  vertebrated  animals,  the 
existing  forms  are  a  well-circumscribed  group,  and  are  not  rep- 
resented by  any  true  aberrant  species.  It  is  with  the  Batrachia 
only  that  they  can  claim  any  affinity,  as  is  shown  by  their  struc- 
ture. From  all  other  existing  reptiles  they  are  clearly  distin- 
guished by  the  hard  osseous  shell  that  incases  their  bodies, 
divided  as  it  is  into  an  upper  or  domed  portion  called  the  cara- 
pace, and  a  ventral  or  flat  part,  termed  the  plastron.  Further  on 
I  shall  describe  these  structures  a  little  more  in  detail. 

Chelonians  have  the  skin  of  the  head,  neck,  legs,  and  tail,  either 
covered  with  scales  or  tubercles,  or  else  soft  and  smooth,  as  in 
our  soft-shelled  turtles.  Sometimes  an  osseous  nucleus  occurs  in 
the  scales  or  tubercles,  such  as  we  find  in  Heloderma  or  on  the 
back  of  our  crocodiles. 

Peculiarities  of  the  greatest  interest  to  the  anatomist  mark 
the  skeleton  and  other  structures  of  these  animals.  A  short  tail 
is  always  possessed  by  them,  and  this  in  some  species  may  be 
more  or  less  elongate.  Without  exception,  the  entire  order  is 
toothless,  the  margins  of  the  jaws  being  armed  with  a  horny 
sheath,  with  cultrate  edges,  corresponding  to  the  same  structure 
as  we  find  it  in  hard-beaked  birds,  as,  for  example,  a  parrot. 

In  the  United  States  we  have  the  Chelonia  represented  by  up- 
ward of  fifty  species,  and  many  subspecies.  There  are  among 
these  the  more  lowly  organized,  paddle-footed,  great  marine 
turtles,  such  as  the  Loggerhead,  the  Green  Turtle,  and  the 
Hawk's-bill.  Many  of  these  live  to  be  of  great  age,  and  grow  to 
immense  proportions,  in  some  cases  coming  to  weigh  as  much  as 
1,200  pounds,  at  the  same  time  attaining  a  length  of  eight  or  nine 


OF    THE    UNITED    STATES  147 

feet  (Spargis  coriacea).  In  our  fresh-water  turtles  the  toes  of 
the  limbs  are  distinct,  clawed,  and  the  feet  are  usually  webbed, 
if  not  always  so. 

In  speaking  of  this  group  in  his  Zoology,  Professor  Packard  re- 
marks :  "  The  terrapins  belong  to  the  genus  Pseudemys;  the  pretty 
painted  turtle  (Clirysemys  picta  Agassiz)  is  common  in  the  East- 
ern States,  while  the  Nanemys  guttatus  (Agassiz),  or  spotted  tor- 
toise, is  black,  spotted  with  orange.  In  the  land  tortoises  the  feet 
are  short  and  stumpy.  The  Testudo  indica  of  India  is  three  feet  in 
length.  The  great  land  tortoises  of  the  Galapagos  Islands,  the 
Mascarine  Islands  (Mauritius  and  Kodriguez),  and  also  of  the 
Aldabra  Islands,  lying  northwest  of  Madagascar,  are  in  some 
cases  colossal  in  size,  the  shells  being  nearly  two  metres  (six 
feet)  in  length.  The  fierce  Mascarine  species  were  contempora- 
ries of  the  Dodo  and  Solitaire,  and  are  now  extinct.  The  bones 
of  extinct  similar  species  have  been  found  in  Malta  and  in  one 
of  the  West  Indian  islands.  The  land  tortoises  are  long-lived 
and  often  reach  a  great  age.  Certain  tortoises  of  the  Tertiary 
Period,  as  the  Colossochelys  of  the  Himalayas,  had  a  shell  twelve 
feet  long  and  six  feet  high.  The  turtles  extend  back  in  geological 
time  to  the  Jurassic,  a  species  of  Compsemys  being  characteristic 
of  the  Upper  Jurassic  beds  of  the  Kocky  Mountains.  (Marsh.) 

"  The  eggs  of  turtles,  as  those  of  birds,  are  of  large  size ;  they 
are  buried  in  June  in  the  sand,  and  left  to  be  hatched  by  the 
warmth  of  the  sun.  It  is  probable  that  turtles  do  not  lay  eggs 
until  eleven  to  thirteen  years  of  age.  The  development  of  turtles 
is  much  as  in  the  chick.  By  the  time  the  heart  becomes  three- 
chambered,  the  vertebra  develop  as  far  as  the  root  of  the  tail,  and 
the  eyes  are  completely  inclosed  in  their  orbits.  The  shield  be- 
gins to  develop  as  lateral  folds  along  the  sides  of  the  body,  the 
narrow  ribs  extending  to  the  edge  of  the  shield.  In  the  lower 
forms  of  turtles  (Chelonioidce),  the  paddle-like  feet  are  formed  by 
the  bones  of  the  toe  becoming  very  long,  while  the  web  is  har- 
dened by  the  development  of  densely  packed  scales,  so  that  the 
foot  is  nearly  as  rigid  as  the  blade  of  an  oar." 

During  the  summer  of  1885  I  paid  not  a  little  attention  to  the 
study  of  a  few  species  of  our  common  tortoises  and  turtles,  and 
read  something  about  them  in  the  books.  The  ordinary  land  tor- 
toise, or  box-tortoise,  is  very  abundant  where  I  live,  near  Wash- 
ington, D.  C.,  and  many  of  them,  of  all  ages  and  sizes,  fell  into  my 
hands  that  year.  Several  of  these  I  kept  alive  and  observed  their 


148  CHAPTERS    ON    THE    NATURAL    HISTORY 

habits;  some  of  them  I  photographed  in  different  attitudes,  and 
one  of  these  (one  about  two-thirds  grown)  is  presented  as  an  illus- 
tration here.  Naturalists  call  this  species  Cistudo  Carolina,  being 
one  of  the  terrestrial  representatives  of  the  group.  It  is  known 
as  a  tortoise,  a  word  probably  derived  from  the  old  French  term 
tort  is,  twisted,  referring  to  the  apparent  twist  in  its  fore-limbs. 
We  usually  call  the  aquatic  forms  turtles,  and  some  of  them 
terrapins.  The  beautiful  orange  and  black  and  brown  markings 
of  our  box-tortoise  do  not  show  in  his  picture,  because  they  will 
not  take  in  an  ordinary  photograph.  It  requires  a  great  deal  of 
patience  to  secure  these  photographs  of  living  tortoises,  because 
the  animal  is  frequently  very  unruly  and  hard  to  manage.  Some 
twenty-five  or  thirty  years  ago  I  collected  an  unusually  fine  speci- 
men of  this  box-tortoise,  that  had  a  shell  that  was  most  beauti- 
fully marked,  and  particularly  perfect  in  form  and  other  re- 
spects. This  shell  I  preserved  and  kept,  and  it  is  before  me  at 
the  present  writing.  Its  superior,  or  dome-part,  as  stated  above, 
we  call  the  carapace,  while  the  breast-plate  below,  that  has  the 
transverse  hinge  in  it,  is  known  as  the  plastron.  These  dorsal 
and  ventral  shields  that  protect  the  entire  body  of  the  box-tor- 
toise are  joined  at  the  sides  by  the  lateral  arches.  Now  the 
carapace  and  plastron  are  overlaid  by  their  hardened  and  brittle 
plates.  These  belong  to  the  skin-system,  and  so  have  been  termed 
epidermoid  scutes.  As  has  already  been  said,  they  are  varie- 
gated in  color  and  in  pattern  in  Cistudo,  and  have  a  definite  ar- 
rangement, as  in  other  chelonians.  Viewing  our  specimen  from 
above,  it  will  be  seen  that  there  is  a  longitudinal  row  of  these 
plates,  with  a  lateral  row  upon  either  side,  and,  finally,  there  is 
a  row  of  similar  scutes  all  the  way  round  the  border.  Upon  the 
plastron  there  is  simply  a  double  longitudinal  row  of  much  big- 
ger plates.  These  epidermoid  plates  do  not  match,  either  in 
form  or  arrangement,  the  bones  of  the  true  carapace  and  plas- 
tron. To  show  this  well,  I  have  made  drawings  that  I  adapted 
for  the  present  purpose  from  figures  given  us  by  Dr.  Gfinther, 
formerly  of  the  British  Museum.  They  are  shown  below  in  Fig- 
ures 40  and  41,  and  represent  the  carapace  (Fig.  40)  and  the 
plastron  (Fig.  41)  of  Testudo  pardulix.  The  first-named  is 
seen  from  above,  and  the  latter  is  viewed  upon  its  ventral  sur- 
face. The  margins  of  the  integumental  scutes  are  indicated  by 
entire  lines,  while  the  sutures  or  borders  of  the  bones  of  the  os- 
seous carapace  are  shown  in  dotted  lines.  Biologists  for  many 


OF    THE    UNITED    STATES  151 

years  have  designated  these  dermal  scutes  by  certain  names. 
Those  of  the  median  row  are  termed  vertebrals  (v)  ;  the  lateral 
rows  are  the  costals  (co) ;  while  the  ones  round  the  border  are 
called  the  marginals  (m).  On  the  plastron,  the  dermal  scutes  are 
known  as  the  gulars  (Fig.  41) ;  the  postgulars  (pg)  ;  the  pectorals 
(p) ;  the  abdominals  '(ab) ;  the  prseanals  (pa) ;  and  the  anals 
(an).  These  scutes  may  be  easily  removed  by  the  application  of 
heat,  or  steam,  or  boiling,  and  then  the  white  bones  of  the  true 
carapace  and  plastron  are  exposed  to  our  view  for  study.  In  the 
figures  these  are  defined  by  the  dotted  lines,  and  are  termed  the 
costals  (co) ;  the  neurals  (ne) ;  the  nuchal  (nu) ;  the  pygal  (py) ; 
the  marginals  (m)  ;  the  entoplastron  (ent)  ;  the  epiplastron  (ep) ; 
the  hyoplastron  (liyo)',  the  hypoplastron  (hyp),  and  the  xyphi- 
plastron  (xyp). 

Young  naturalists  will  have  no  trouble  in  acquiring  these 
names,  and  they  are  of  no  little  importance  in  the  study  of  che- 
lonians.  In  classification  the  arrangement  of  the  bones  and  the 
dermal  scutes  is  very  convenient  for  the  designation  of  species. 
To  appreciate  this  fact,  I  would  advise  the  student  to  secure  in 
the  market  or  elsewhere  a  small  turtle  of  any  species,  and  make 
out  for  himself  the  structures  to  which  I  have  just  invited  atten- 
tion. 

In  the  big  marine  turtles  found  in  different  parts  of  the  world, 
the  same  general  arrangement  of  the  scutes  will  be  found  to  hold 
good.  At  the  present  writing  I  have  at  hand  the  carapace  of  a 
young  Hawk's-bill  turtle  (Caretta  imbricata),  and  of  it  I  made  the 
sketch  shown  in  Fig.  42.  This  is  the  upper  view,  and  the  let- 
tering is  the  same  as  Fig.  40.  The  vertebrals  and  costals  in 
Caretta  always  together  number  thirteen,  and  they  are  at  once 
recognized  by  their  peculiar  imbrication,  hence  the  specific  name 
this  species  has  received.  The  marginals  form  a  serrated  border 
to  its  carapace,  as  shown  in  the  cut  (m).  It  is  the  Hawk's-bill  tur- 
tle that  furnishes  the  famous  tortoise-shell  of  commerce,  and 
owing  to  the  demand  for  this,  the  animal  is  gradually  being  ex- 
terminated. The  scutes  are  removed  by  suspending  the  living 
turtles  over  the  fire  until  they  start  free  from  the  carapace;  they 
are  then  detached  and  the  tortured  turtle  allowed  to  return  to 
the  sea.  In  this  partly  baked  condition  some  doubtless  survive, 
but  many  must  die ;  but  the  only  interest  that  this  has  for  men  is 
the  fact  that  the  scutes  are  probably  never  reproduced  so  as  to 
even  be  fit  for  anything,  or  to  be  toasted  off  a  second  time.  Chi- 


152 


CHAPTERS    ON    THE    NATURAL    HISTORY 


nese  tortoise-shell,  which  is  obtained  from  the  Celebes,  is  the 
finest  that  conies  to  us,  but  the  natives  that  collect  it  kill  the 
turtles  outright  by  knocking  them  on  the  head,  and  the  dermal 
scutes  are  removed  by  boiling  the  shell  of  the  animal  in  water. 
In  the  carapace  of  the  young  Hawk's-bill  I  have  before  me,  it 
wxmld  hardly  seem  possible  that  the  dermal  scutes  could  be  re- 
produced again,  provided  they  were  once  removed,  and  the  speci- 
men survived  the  baking.  This  I  judge  from  the  fact  that  the 
outer  halves  of  all  the  costals  of  the  osseous  carapace  are  quite 


FIGS.  40,  41.     SHELL  OF  Testudo  pardalis. 

To  show  the  divisions  of  the  integument,  which  are  marked  by  entire  lines,  and  of  the  osseous  cara- 
pace, these  being  marked  by  dotted  lines. 

Fig.  37.     Upper  or  dorsal  aspect. 

Fig.  38.    Lower  or  ventral  aspect. 

Dermal  Scutes :  co,  costals ;  v,  vertebrals ;  m,  marginals ;  #,  gulars ;  pg,  postgulars  ;  p,  pectorals  ; 
ab,  abdominals ;  pa,  praeanals  ;  an,  anals. 

Bones  of  the  Carapace  :  co',  costals ;  ne,  neurals ;  nu,  nuchal ;  py,  pygal ;  m',  marginals ;  ent, 
entoplastron :  ep,  epiplastron  ;  hyo,  hyoplastron  ;  hyp,  hypoplastron  ;  xyp,  xyphiplastron.  (Drawn  by 
the  author  after  Giinther.) 

rib-like  in  structure,  and  separated  from  each  other  by  very  con- 
siderable intervals.  It  is  over  these  intervals  that  the  imbricated 
costal  dermal  scutes  are  placed,  and  in  their  removal  the  visceral 
cavity  of  the  animal  would  surely  be  left  more  or  less  unpro- 
tected and  exposed. 

Marine  turtles,  as  before  remarked,  have  their  fore  and  hind 
limbs  completely  modified,  so  as  to  form  paddles  for  swimming, 
and  nothing  I  enjoyed  more  when  sailing  in  the  Southern  seas 


OF    THE    UNITED    STATES 


153 


than  when  I  would  occasionally  observe  a  big  green  turtle  (Ghe- 
lonia  viridis),  come  to  the  surface  to  breathe.  It  is  a  beautiful 
sight  to  watch  them  and  the  marvelous  rapidity  by  which  they 
can  propel  themselves  through  the  water  is  astonishing.  They 
also  have  great  command  over  their  other  movements,  while  on 
land  they  are  as  awkward  and  as  helpless  as  any  seal  that  ever 
lived. 

Frequently  I  have  eaten  the  eggs  of  the  green  turtle  on  the 
Bahama  Islands,  and  found  them  very  good,  indeed.  Upon  one 
occasion  I  was  much  amused  at  a  sailor  with  whom  I  was 


FIG.  42.      THE   CAKAPACE  OF   A  YOUNG   HAWK'S-BILL  TURTLE 

(  Caretta  imbricata). 

v,  vertebrals  ;  co,  costals ;  m,  marginals.     Seen  from  above  and  greatly  reduced. 

searching  for  turtle's  nests,  for  wrhen  least  expecting  it  he 
slipped  into  it  through  the  sand,  in  which  the  coveted  eggs  were 
concealed  by  the  turtle  that  laid  them;  and  it  may  be  imagined 
what  his  white  trousers  looked  like  after  the  accident.  How- 
ever the  eggs  were  not  all  crushed,  for  nearly  200  were  taken  out 
in  good  condition. 

In  1883  while  collecting  in  Louisiana  for  the  Smithsonian  In- 
stitution, under  the  direction  of  Professor  Spencer  F.  Baird,  I 
met  with  not  a  few  different  species  of  the  fresh-water  turtles  of 
this  country.  Among  these  I  succeeded  in  taking  a  few  of  the 


154  CHAPTERS    ON    THE    NATURAL    HISTORY 

Soft-shelled  turtle  (Aspidonectes  fcrox  as  well  as  A.  spinifer),  a 
well-known  species  in  many  localities. 

They  are  very  ferocious,  and  difficult  to  find  and  capture.  This 
is  due  to  the  fact  that  they  are  usually  found  in  muddy  water, 
either  of  the  ponds  or  the  rivers,  and,  being  wonderfully  quick  in 
their  movements,  netting  them  was  not  an  easy  matter.  My  col- 
lectors rarely  brought  them  in,  and  when  they  did  I  take  it  they 
caught  the  specimens  by  baiting  for  them.  There  was  a  druggist 
living  in  southern  New  Orleans  in  those  days  who  had  a  young 
one  of  these  soft-shelled  turtles  in  a  jar  alive  in  his  shop,  and  it 
was  an  extremely  interesting  form  to  study.  It  had  the  habit 
of  settling  itself  down  in  the  sand  on  the  bottom  of  the  recepta- 
cle, with  no  part  of  its  body  showing,  save  its  snaky-looking 
head.  Carnivorous  and  voracious  in  the  extreme,  it  only  required 
a  tadpole,  small  frog  or  fish  to  come  near  it,  when  out  shot  its 
neck,  as  quick  as  thought,  and  the  victim  was  seized  in  its  rapa- 
cious jaws  to  be  ravenously  eaten  in  a  trice.  Big  Soft-shelled 
turtles  have  the  power,  when  searching  for  food  in  shallow  water, 
to  throw  their  entire  body  forward  to  seize  upon  it.  These  tur- 
tles are  fine  eating  themselves,  and  many  people  prefer  them 
even  to  the  delicate  green  turtle,  so  long  famous  in  the  making  of 
soups. 

Giinther  adheres  to  the  name  Trionyx  for  this  genus,  and 
briefly  describes  some  of  them  in  his  article  "  Tortoise  "  in  the 
Encyclopedia  Britannica  (Vol.  xxiii,  p.  459). 

In  many  of  the  city  stores  where  birds,  fish,  and  animals  of  all 
kinds  are  sold  as  pets  we  frequently  see  a  tank  containing  many 
young  turtles,  ranging  all  the  way  in  size  from  that  of  a  nickel 
five-cent  piece  to  that  of  a  silver  dollar.  These  are  usually  of 
four  well-known  species,  viz.,  the  Pond  Terrapin  (Clirysemys 
picta)  ;  the  Spotted  Turtle  or  Peep-turtle  (Nanemys  guttatus)  ;  the 
Snapping  Turtle  (Clielydra  serpentina)  ;  and  the  Musk  Turtle  (Cin- 
osternum  p.  pennsylvanicum).  The  first  is  known  by  the  red  and 
black  alternate  bars  on  the  under  marginal  surface  of  the  cara- 
pace; the  second  by  the  small  orange  spots  sparsely  distributed 
over  the  black  surface  of  its  dorsum  or  back;  the  third  by  its  long 
tail,  and  its  rough  dermodorsal  scutes;  and  the  last  by  its 
smooth,  light-brownish  carapace,  and  the  yellowish,  longitudinal 
stripes  on  its  head.  Specimens  of  all  of  these  and  at  all  ages 
have  been  taken  by  me  in  various  parts  of  the  country  from  New 
England  to  the  mouth  of  the  Mississippi  River. 


OF    THE    UNITED    STATES  155 

A  young  Snapping  turtle  I  recently  had  in  confinement  in  a 
suitable  vessel  of  water  lived  in  apparent  comfort  without  any 
food  whatever  for  a  period  of  three  months.  When  food  was  par- 
taken of  by  it  (young  snails)  at  the  end  of  that  time,  the  turtle 
died  on  the  third  day  thereafter.  Box-tortoises  have  been  kept 
by  me  for  a  year,  without  food  or  water,  and  what  is  generally 
not  known  about  this  species,  they  are  pretty  good  swimmers 
for  short  distances,  and  this  power  is  frequently  of  advantage  to 
them. 

Many  people  in  the  country  districts  are  in  a  habit  often  of 
keeping  a  Snapping  turtle  in  the  barrel  of  swill,  where,  in  course 
of  time,  it  naturally  grows  to  be  of  great  size ;  very  tender ;  loses 
much  of  its  normal  musky  odor;  and,  in  short,  becomes  capital 
meat  for  the  table,  either  to  be  made  into  soups  or  otherwise 
cooked. 

The  largest  fresh-water  turtle  known  (Macroclemmys  tem- 
minckii)  is  related  to  the  Snapping  turtle,  and  is  found  in  the 
rivers  tributary  to  the  Gulf  of  Mexico.  It  is  often  called  the  Alli- 
gator turtle  from  its  being  so  ferocious,  and  its  shell  may  attain 
a  length  of  at  least  three  feet.  (Giinther.) 

We  stand  much  in  need  of  a  fuller  knowledge  of  many  of  the 
habits  of  our  United  States  Chelonians,  as  well  as  their  exact 
geographical  distribution.  In  some  departments  of  this  subject 
we  are  indeed  quite  ignorant;  knowing  little  or  nothing  about 
the  breeding  habits  of  many  of  the  fresh-water  species. 

A  good  provisional  classification  for  the  Chelonia  is  found  in 
Gtinther's  article  "  Tortoise,"  to  which  I  have  referred  above. 
It  is  largely  based  upon  structural  characters,  especially  those 
of  the  shell,  as  this  part  is  so  convenient.  Little  is  known  of  the 
detail  of  morphology,  or  rather  internal  morphological  detail,  in 
many  of  the  species.  A  good  proportion  of  the  existing  families 
are  represented  by  one  or  more  fossil  forms. 


CHAPTER  XI. 

ALLIGATORS  AND  CROCODILES. 

(Crocodilia.) 

N  the  Order  Crocodil'm  we  have  a  remarkable  group  of 
reptiles,  representatives  of  which  occur  in  various 
parts  of  the  world.  Naturalists  divide  the  living  croc- 
odiles in  three  families,  and  these  are  known  as  the 
Gavials,  the  true  Crocodiles,  and  the  Alligators.  In  former  ages 
of  the  earth's  history,  however,  as  has  been  pointed  out  by  the 
writers  upon  the  fossil  remains  of  animals,  there  were  not  only  a 
great  many  more  different  kinds  of  these  reptiles,  but  they  had 
a  far  wider  range  over  the  surface  of  the  globe,  and  formed  a 
more  important  figure  in  its  fauna. 

Restricted  as  they  now  are  in  their  present  distribution,  it  is 
safe  to  assert  that  the  crocodiles  and  their  near  kin  are  marked 
as  a  declining  group,  and  they  will  eventually  be  exterminated 
entirely.  Anatomists  have  clearly  shown  them  to  be,  by  their 
structure,  the  highest  order  of  reptiles  now  in  existence,  while 
literature  of  every  description  teems  with  accounts  of  them,  both 
true  and  mythical,  as  far  back  as  the  very  dawn  of  history;  nor 
were  figures  of  them  by  any  means  forgotten  upon  the  monu- 
ments of  the  ancients. 

Alligators  are  confined  to  America,  and  we  have  a  very  well 
known  form  of  them  in  the  United  States,  that  occurs  in  all  suit- 
able localities  throughout  the  South,  being  quite  abundant  in 
certain  places.  According  to  Professor  Packard  and  other 
writers,  we  also  have  in  Florida  the  Florida  crocodile,  described 
by  Cuvier,  the  great  French  naturalist,  as  Crocodilus  acutus.  This 
reptile,  which  may  attain  to  a  length  of  fourteen  feet,  is  rare 
upon  the  peninsula,  becoming  far  more  abundant  in  the  West 
Indies  and  South  America. 

We  may  state  here  that  the  alligator  and  the  crocodile  are  dis- 
tinctly different  structurally.  In  two  points  of  external  struc- 
ture, this  distinction  is  very  well  marked.  In  the  alligator  the 
fourth  tooth,  known  as  the  canine  or  prehensile  tooth  of  the 
lower  jaw,  fits  into  a  pit  in  the  upper  jaw,  whereas  in  the  croc- 
odile, or  among  the  crocodiles,  this  tooth  has,  in  the  upper  jaw, 
only  a  notch  or  furrow  to  accommodate  it  when  the  animal's 


OF    THE    UNITED    STATES 


157 


mouth  is  closed.  Again,  the  toes  of  the  crocodile  are  almost 
completely  webbed,  being  much  less  so  in  the  case  of  the  alliga- 
tor, although  the  latter  is  doubtless  just  as  good  a  swimmer. 
Finally,  there  is  a  jagged  fringe  of  skin  bordering  the  hind  legs 
and  feet  of  the  crocodile,  a  development  of  doubtful  ornamenta- 
tion, that  is  not  to  be  found  in  any  alligator. 


FIG.  43.     HEAD  OF  CROCODILE. 

^Drawn  by  the  Author.) 

This  word  alligator  seems  to  probably  have  been  derived  from 
the  Spanish,  as  a  lizard,  either  big  or  little,  is  known  to  them  as 
el  lagarto;  while  in  the  South  the  writer  has  frequently  heard 
the  negroes  speak  of  alligators  as  simply  "  'gaters."  In  South 
America  there  are  two  or  three  more  species  of  these  reptiles 


158  CHAPTERS    ON    THE    NATURAL    HISTORY 

known;  the  most  conspicuous  being  the  Caiman  or  Cayman,  oc- 
curring principally  in  Guiana  and  Surinam;  while  in  Brazil  we 
find  the  Spectacled  alligator  or  Jacare'.  Either  of  these  are  repre- 
sentative of  the  genus  to  which  they  belong,  namely,  the  genus 
Caiman,  containing  several  species;  and  the  genus  Jacare,  also 
including  five  or  six  species  more. 

It  is  said  that  the  Caimans  never  grow  to  be  as  large  as  an  alli- 
gator, nor  are  they  ever  so  dangerous  or  voracious.  Men  are 
never  attacked  by  them,  either  on  shore  or  in  the  water,  so  long 
as  the  limbs  are  kept  in  motion.  Caimans  also  differ  from  alli- 
gators in  placing  their  eggs  in  a  single  layer,  and  for  the  utter 
neglect  of  their  young  after  hatching.  Now  when  a  female  alli- 
gator is  about  to  lay,  she  first  digs  a  deep  hole  in  the  sand,  in 
which  she  deposits  her  eggs  in  layers,  placing  dry  grass  and 
leaves  between  each  layer.  In  the  United  States  this  occurs,  as 
a  rule,  but  once  during  the  season,  as  the  eggs  must  be  hatched 
out  by  the  heat  of  the  sun.  Caimans  on  the  other  hand,  although 
they  lay  each  time  a  far  fewer  number  of  eggs,  breed  several 
times  during  the  year;  especially  this  is  the  case  in  the  hottest 
parts  of  the  region  where  they  are  found.  ,  A  female  alligator 
will  watch  and  guard  her  nest  of  eggs  until  they  are  hatched,  and 
then  she  immediately  takes  charge  of  the  brood,  affording  them 
all  the  protection  and  care  in  her  power.  In  these  special  traits 
they  resemble  the  true  crocodiles. 

The  female  jacar6  also  deposits  her  eggs  in  a  single  layer, 
covering  them  likewise  with  leaves  and  straw.  It  is  said  that  the 
vultures  often  scratch  the  eggs  out  and  consume  them;  while  a 
large  number  of  the  progeny  are  devoured  by  the  adult  males  of 
this  species.  When  the  young  first  make  their  appearance  it  is 
usually  at  the  hottest  season  of  the  year;  food  is  scarce,  and  the 
marshes  nearly  all  dried  up.  This  conduces  to  make  the  males 
ravenous,  and  so  their  own  young  get  the  benefit  of  it,  and  are  de- 
voured whenever  the  female  cannot  sufficiently  protect  them 
against  their  fierce  attacks. 

The  egg  of  this  species  are  about  the  size  of  those  of  an  ordi- 
nary goose,  being,  however,  elongate  and  ellipsoidal  in  form. 
As  in  the  case  of  all  the  Crocodilia,  they  are  also  white  wdth  a 
hard  shell.  The  Indians  of  Brazil  are  very  fond  of  jacar£  eggs, 
and  will  also  eat  the  flesh  of  the  reptile  itself,  juiceless  and 
musky  as  it  is.  Jacare"s  feed  principally  upon  water-fowl  and 
fish,  and  never  touch  any  animal  that  they  may  by  chance  have 
destroyed  in  guarding  their  nest  or  young. 


OF    THE    UNITED    STATES  159 

In  suitable  localities,  along  the  banks  of  the  Amazon,  these 
reptiles  may  be  often  seen  asleep — stretched  out  enjoying  the 
hot  sun  in  the  day  time;  where,  upon  being  disturbed,  they  quick- 
ly take  to  the  water.  At  night  they  are  both  noisy  and  active, 
keeping  to  the  water  entirely,  exposing  only  their  heads  as  they 
swim  about  in  search  of  their  prey.  Humboldt,  in  his  South 
American  travels,  frequently  saw  jacar^s  basking  in  the  sun 
during  the  day  time  "  with  open  jaws,  motionless,  their  uncouth 
bodies  often  covered  with  birds." 

It  has  been  said  that  our  Florida  alligator  may  attain  a  length 
of  at  least  18  feet,  though  the  average  adult  rarely  exceeds  15 
feet.  They  are  far  more  fierce  and  dangerous  than  their  South 
American  cousins,  and  will,  whenever  opportunity  offers,  attack 
both  men  and  many  quadrupeds.  Strange  to  say,  negro  flesh  is 
preferred  above  all  other  kinds  by  the  alligator,  and  as  a  conse- 
quence these  people  are  the  avowed  enemies  of  this  famous  rep- 
tile. Alligators  get  into  the  soft  mud  and  lie  dormant  during 
the  winter  season.  This  fact  is  well  known  to  the  southern 
negro,  and  he  unearths  him  from  such  places,  with  the  double 
intention  of  destroying  his  enemy  and  obtaining  his  tail,  which, 
cooked  after  their  fashion,  they  esteem  a  great  delicacy. 

Many  years  ago  when  in  Mexico,  the  writer  heard,  for  the  first 
time,  the  terrific  roaring  of  the  old  male  alligators.  This  oc- 
curred during  the  evenings,  and  especially  during  the  mating 
season,"  when  the  forest-lined  banks  of  the  Coatzacoalcos  River 
were  made  to  resound  with  the  harsh  bellowings  of  this  dreaded 
amphibian.  The  sounds  emitted  by  a  lot  of  bulls  are  no  more  to 
be  compared  to  the  concert  of  several  of  these  than  are  the  prat- 
tlings  of  so  many  babies  to  the  boomings  of  a  battalion  of  bit- 
terns. Some  say  that  they  have  even  imagined  that  the  very 
earth  seemed  to  tremble  beneath  their  feet  when  the  performers 
were  at  no  great  distance  off. 

Although  alligators  are  generally  supposed  to  be  polygamous, 
still  during  the  pairing  season  the  males  engage  in  the  most 
deadly  combats,  choosing  the  shallower  parts  of  the  elements  in 
which  they  live  as  the  place  for  the  battle-ground.  They  work 
each  other  up  to  the  fighting  point  by  several  not-to-be-despised 
taps  with  their  tails.  These  increase  in  severity  as  the  anger  of 
the  combatants  begins  to  boil,  and  then  the  powerful  jaws  come 
into  play, — and  when  they  do  take  hold,  the  grip  of  the  biggest 


160  CHAPTERS    ON    THE    NATURAL    HISTORY 

vise  is  but  the  nip  of  a  fiddler-crab  to  it.  They  do  not  rest  satis- 
fied until  the  victim  is  pulled  beneath  the  surface  of  the  water, 
and  made  away  with. 

A  good  observer  of  the  habits  of  the  alligator  has  said  "  on 
some  occasions  the  alligators  beset  the  mouth  of  some  retired 
creek,  into  which  they  have  previously  driven  the  fish,  bellowing 
so  loud  that  they  may  be  heard  at  the  distance  of  a  mile.  To 
catch  the  fish  they  dive  under  the  shoal,  and  having  secured  one, 
rise  to  the  surface,  toss  it  into  the  air  to  get  rid  of  the  water 
which  they  necessarily  take  in  along  with  it,  and  catch  it  again  in 
its  descent.  When,  however,  they  succeed  in  capturing  a  land 
animal  which  is  too  large  to  be  swallowred  at  a  single  mouthful, 
they  conceal  the  body  beneath  the  bank  till  it  begins  to  putrefy, 
for  as  their  teeth  are  not  formed  for  cutting  or  masticating,  they 
are  unable  to  tear  the  tough  flesh  in  its  fresh  state;  it  is  then 
dragged  on  shore  and  devoured  at  leisure." 

In  the  winter-time,  in  the  most  of  our  southern  States  where 
the  alligator  is  found,  especially  in  the  more  northern  localities, 
it  buries  itself  in  the  mud  at  the  bottom  of  marshes  and  swamps, 
where  it  hibernates  until  the  return  of  spring.  If  the  season  be 
an  unusually  severe  one,  they  may  in  these  situations  become  al- 
most frozen,  and  it  is  said  that,  when  in  this  condition,  the  rep- 
tile may  be  almost  sliced  into  pieces  without  exhibiting  any  signs 
of  life.  If  brought  into  a  good  warm  place,  however,  this  lethar- 
gic state  is  soon  dispelled,  and  the  fellow  quickly  resumes  the 
power  he  possesses  in  the  summer-time,  and  his  wonted  fierce- 
ness returns. 

Bartram,  one  of  the  early  naturalists  in  this  country,  a  great 
many  years  ago,  claims  to  have  observed  in  a  mineral  spring  near 
the  Mosquito  Kiver,  in  Florida,  great  numbers  of  alligators  and 
fish,  although  the  water  was  nearly  at  the  boiling  point,  and 
"  strongly  impregnated  with  copper  and  vitriol."  In  the  opinion 
of  the  present  writer,  had  the  alligators  been  left  out,  this  would 
at  least  have  made  a  tip-top  fish  story. 

Our  alligator  has  a  very  formidable  relative  in  Asia,  known  as 
the  Gavial  or  Nakoo.  As  the  species  is  principally  confined  to 
the  Eiver  Ganges,  it  is  best  known  as  the  Gangetic  Gavial.  They 
are  easily  distinguished  from  either  alligators  or  crocodiles  by 
their  long  and  narrow  jaws,  furnished  with  teeth  of  uniform  size, 
with  the  exception  of  the  six  anterior  pairs,  and  by  the  male  pos- 
sessing a  great  swelling  in  front  of  the  nostrils. 


OF  THE  UNITED  STATES  161 

Gavials  may  attain  a  length  of  nearly  20  feet,  and,  as  in  the 
case  of  the  South  American  jacare's  and  caimans,  they  are  not 
dangerous  to  either  man  or  beast.  Their  chief  occupation  con- 
sists in  devouring  the  dead  carcasses  that  find  their  way  into  In- 
dia's great  sacred  river  Ganges,  and  in  this  particular  they  per- 
form a  very  useful  office.  ^Elian,  one  of  the  historians  of  the  an- 
cients, knew  of  the  existence  of  this  reptile  in  the  rivers  of  In- 
dia, and  he  mentioned  it  in  his  writings  as  the  crocodile  that  had 
a  horn  at  the  distal  end  of  its  snout. 

Speaking  of  the  literature  of  the  group,  however,  the  great 
bulk  of  it  has  been  devoted  to  the  true  crocodiles.  This,  of 
course,  is  due  to  the  fact  that  crocodiles  of  the  Old  World  were 
known  and  written  about  long,  long  before  America  was  even 
discovered  or  her  alligators  dreamed  of  by  natural  historians. 
In  the  manner  of  rearing  their  young,  procuring  and  consuming 
food,  methods  of  attack  upon  man  and  the  larger  quadrupeds, 
and,  indeed,  in  their  general  habits,  the  crocodiles  and  alligators 
closely  agree  in  all.  Both  the  eggs  and  young  have  many  destroy- 
ers, as  birds,  fish,  turtles,  man,  and  the  male  of  the  species — so 
that  it  is  not  likely  that  more  than  one  young  crocodile  in  forty 
comes  to  maturity,  and  this,  far  from  the  settlements  of  men. 

Crocodiles  when  captured  alive  frequently  feign  death  to  a  re- 
markable degree.  Tennant,  while  traveling  in  Ceylon,  I  think, 
states  that  "  on  one  occasion  his  party  came  upon  a  sleeping 
crocodile,  which  on  being  struck,  after  it  had  awakened  and  seen 
itself  surrounded,  lay  perfectly  quiet  and  apparently  dead;  in  a 
little  while  it  was  seen  to  glance  furtively  about,  and  then  make 
a  rush  towards  the  water.  On  receiving  a  second  blow  it  again 
feigned  death,  and  this  time  no  amount  of  poking  could  elicit  the 
slightest  sign  of  life,  until  a  lad,  by  gently  tickling  it  under  the 
fore  leg,  caused  the  reptile  so  far  to  forget  itself  as  to  draw  up  its 
limb." 

An  alligator,  or  a  crocodile,  can  go  a  whole  year  without  eating 
or  drinking,  a  feat  that  can  be  performed  in  a  lesser  degree  by 
most  lizards,  as  the  writer  has  often  proved.  The  crocodile  re- 
sorts to  numerous  stratagems  to  secure  its  larger  quadrupedal 
prey,  and,  as  it  has  a  most  formidable  weapon  at  either  end  of  its 
body,  the  probabilities  in  favor  of  certain  statements,  whether 
authenticated  or  not,  are  simply  doubled.  A  blow  from  its  tail 
will  knock  down  and  stun  a  big  animal,  while  a  powerful  lever 
will  not  force  its  jaws  apart  when  once  it  has  taken  a  good  hold. 


162 


CHAPTERS    ON    THE    NATURAL    HISTORY 


Prevalent  among  the  myths  about  crocodiles  is  the  one  that 
states  the  reptile  never  ceases  to  grow,  and  consequently  the 
limits  of  its  size  and  age  are  not  exactly  known. 


Fig.  44.     THE  GAVIAL. 

Drawn  by  the  Author. 

Ever  since  the  days  of  Herodotus,  it  has  been  known  that  the 
crocodiles  of  the  Mle,  in  Africa,  frequently  lie  basking  in  the 
sun,  with  open  and  wride-gaping  mouths,  while  a  small  species  of 


OF    THE    UNITED    STATES  163 

plover  is  allowed  by  these  great  reptiles  to  enter  and  feed  upon 
the  parasitic  worms  in  its  tongue,  thereby  affording  no  small  re- 
lief. This  fact  is  illustrated  in  Fig.  43  of  the  present  chap- 
ter. The  plovers  belong  to  a  group  known  in  ornithology 
as  Coursers,  and  they  are  forms  of  great  beauty.  Sometimes,  on 
the  Upper  Nile,  it  is  not  an  uncommon  sight  to  see  an  old  croco- 
dile in  the  water,  looking  for  all  the  world  like  a  floating  log,  with 
two  or  three  of  these  pretty  plovers  disporting  themselves  upon 
its  back.  They  have  a  peculiar  note  to  alarm  the  sleeping  and 
ponderous  amphibian,  in  the  event  of  approaching  danger. 

On  the  Lower  Mle  the  crocodiles  have  been  rendered  nearly 
extinct;  man  has  shot  them  out.  In  the  same  locality,  in  ancient 
times,  the  Egyptians  held  them  to  be  sacred;  they  kept  many  of 
them  tame,  feeding  them  in  the  most  extravagant  manner,  and 
ornamenting  many  parts  of  their  bodies  with  gold  bracelets,  jew- 
els, and  precious  stones.  Thus  decked  out,  they  were  worshiped 
by  the  people.  Many  were  brought  to  Kome,  especially  in  the 
time  of  Augustus,  where  they  were  introduced  at  the  Amphi- 
theater. Temples  were  raised  at  Memphis  in  the  reptile's  honor, 
and  in  them,  as  in  other  cities  too,  living  crocodiles  were  kept  as 
divinities.  After  death  they  were  mummified  with  the  utmost 
care  and  regard.  In  other  parts  and  cities  of  ancient  Egypt, 
however,  the  very  opposite  sentiments  obtained,  and  crocodiles 
received  no  mercy  at  the  hands  of  the  inhabitants.  Many  natives 
in  Africa  eat  them  with  great  relish,  but  Sir  Samuel  Baker  re- 
garded the  flesh  with  the  utmost  disgust. 

To  return  to  our  own  crocodile  and  alligator,  I  may  say  that  a 
full  knowledge  of  their  breeding  habits  has  as  yet  not  been  se- 
cured by  science,  so  that  accurate  observations  by  any  natural- 
ists will  be  very  acceptable,  and  constitute  a  positive  contribu- 
tion to  a  remarkable  form  of  reptile  that  sooner  or  later  must 
utterly  disappear  from  this  country. 


CHAPTER  XII. 

GREBES,  LOONS,  AND  AUKS. 

(Pygopodes:  Alcce.) 

O  far  as  my  observation  goes,  it  is  only  the  better 
informed,  or  else  those  who  have  some  knowledge 
of  ornithology,  apart  from  professional  naturalists, 
who  apply  the  name  "  Grebe  "  to  the  birds  so  desig- 
nated in  science.  As  a  rule,  the  representatives  of  this 
family  are  popularly  called  "  divers "  or  more  often  "  hell- 
divers,"  and  sometimes  "  waterwitches,"  or  "  dippers,"  and 
the  little  Pied-billed  Grebe  (Podilymbus  podiceps),  probably  the 
best-known  form  of  all  the  genera,  not  only  has  all  these  names 
applied  to  it,  but  likewise  in  the  vernacular  tongue  passes  under 
the  other  ones  of  "  dab-chick,"  "  die-dapper  "  and  the  like. 

It  is  not  so  very  long  ago  since  the  present  writer  paid  consid- 
erable attention  to  the  osteology  of  these  birds  as  well  as  to  that 
of  many  of  their  relatives,  both  near  and  remote.  These  studies 
led  me  to  believe  that  the  Grebes  have  their  nearest  allies  in  the 
Loons,  and  that  they  each  constitute  a  superf amily ;  the  first- 
mentioned  birds  forming  the  Podicipoidea,  and  the  latter  the 
Urinatoroidea.  Taken  together  these  two  superfamilies  form  the 
suborder  Pygopodes.  In  a  paper  I  recently  published  in  London 
upon  this  group,  I  remarked  that  formerly  the  Pygopodes  were 
considered  by  a  number. of  ornithological  systematists  to  be  a 
group  of  birds  containing  but  one  family — the  ColymUdw,  em- 
bracing, in  this  country,  at  least,  all  those  species  known  to  us  as 
the  Grebes  and  Loons.  By  some  this  group  was  placed  in  the 
old  order  NATATORES,  which  was  created  in  times  gone  by,  to  con- 
tain nearly  every  kind  of  water-bird,  from  a  Flamingo  to  an  Auk. 
Even  as  late  as  1839  Brandt*  included  the  Penguins  in  this  order, 
and  prior  to  his  day  Illiger  had  associated  the  Phalaropes  with 
them.  Passing  by  these  earlier  taxonomies,  we  find  the  writers 
of  the  later  years  of  the  present  century  removing  group 
after  group  from  this  natatorial  assemblage,  so  that  at  the  pres- 
ent time  the  majority  of  avian  classifiers  place  in  the  order  Pygo- 
podes only  the  Auks,  Grebes,  and  Loons.  Mr.  Sclater  has  com- 
mitted himself  to  the  opinion  that  the  Pygopodes  "  seem  to  form 

*  Beitrage  zur  Kenntiss  der  Naturgeschichte  der  Vogel. 


OF    THE    UNITED    STATES  167 

a,  natural  transition  between  "  the  Gulls  and  the  Penguins ;  and 
to  my  friend  Professor  Alfred  Newton  "  it  appears  questionable 
whether  the  Grebes,  Podicipedidce,  have  any  real  affinity  to  the 
two  families  (ColymMdce  and  Alcidce)  with  which  they  are  usually 
associated,  and  this  is  a  point  deserving  of  more  attention  on  the 
part  of  morphologists  than  it  has  hitherto  received." 

Within  the  confines  of  the  United  States  we  find  no  outlying 
types  in  her  avifauna  to  this  group  Pygopodes,  when  constituted 
as  I  have  above  suggested — no  bird-forms  about  which  the  mor- 
phologists have  any  doubt  as  to  whether  they  belong  to  this  sub- 
order or  not;  and  I  conceive  that  such  forms,  among  other  avi- 
fauna, as  we  find  in  the  genera  Heliornis  and  Podica,  are  too  un- 
mistakably stamped  with  ralline  characters,  according  to  recent 
investigators  of  their  anatomy,  to  ever  be  associated  again  with 
the  Grebes,  much  less  with  the  Loons. 

The  present  writer  is  of  the  opinion  that  both  the  Grebes  and 
the  Loons  are  the  descendants  of  a  now  extinct  ancestral  stock 
of  birds,  from  which  those  remarkable  fossil  forms  of  toothed 
divers  of  the  cretaceous  beds  of  Kansas  described  by  Marsh — the 
Hesperornithidw — were  an  offshoot.  If  we  designate  that  ancient 
stock  as  the  Hesperornoidea,  I  conceive  them  to  have  been  forms 
possessing  ample  powers  of  flight  and  swimming — in  short,  pon- 
derous flying  divers  with  teeth  in  their  jaws.  From  those  birds 
it  is  probable  that  such  types  as  Hesperornis  regalis  and  H.  cras- 
sipes  were  a  branch,  in  later  time,  that  for  some  reason  or  other 
ceased  to  resort  to  flight,  lost  their  wings  in  consequence,  but 
became  divers  of  enormous  power. 

From  a  consideration  of  the  osteological  characters,  I  consider 
the  Grebes  to  be  an  earlier  offshoot  of  the  pygopodous  stem  than 
the  Loons,  and  more  nearly  related  to  Hesperornis  than  are  the 
latter  birds.  The  morphology  of  the  pelvis  and  the  pelvic  limb,  as 
well  as  certain  characters  in  the  skull  and  trunk  skeleton,  point 
in  favor  of  this  view,  I  think.  So  far  as  the  affinities  of  the  Pygo- 
podes  are  concerned  with  other  groups  of  existing  birds,  I  have 
shown  in  other  places  that  they  present  a  number  of  osteological 
characters  exhibited  in  common  with  the  Auks  and  their  allies 
(Alcce)  and  the  Gulls  (Longipennes,  etc.).  More  with  the  first, 
and  more  or  fewer  with  the  latter  groups. 

The  following  list  gives  the  genera,  species,  and  subspecies  of 
grebes  that  are  now  recognized  as  occurring  in  various  parts  of 

"Encyclo.  Brit.,  9th  ed.,  vol.  XVIII,  art.  "  Ornithology,"  p.  45. 


168  CHAPTERS    ON    THE    NATURAL    HISTORY 

the  United  States,  viz.:  The  Western  grebe  (sEchmophorus  occi- 
dentalis)  ;  Holbcell's  grebe  (Colynibns  holboellii)  ;  the  Horned  grebe 
(C.  auritus)  ;  American  eared  grebe  (C.  nigricollis  calif  ornicus)  ; 
the  St.  Domingo  grebe  (C.  dominions),  and  the  Pied-billed  grebe 
(Podttymbus  podiceps).  Other  forms  of  these  birds  are  found  in 
many  parts  of  the  world,  and  at  least  five  distinct  species  occur  in 
Great  Britain.  Many  of  the  habits  of  these  birds  are  character- 
istic of  all  the  members  of  the  group,  and  are  .well  exemplified  in 
the  Horned  grebe,  of  which  I  present  a  figure,  and  which  will  be 
the  species  chosen  for  the  purposes  of  description.  In  suitable  lo- 
calities, this  grebe  is  found  to  inhabit  the  entire  northern  hemi- 
sphere, and  in  this  country  breeds  from  northern  United  States 
northward.  During  the  breeding  season,  the  head  of  one  of  these 
birds  is  ornamented  with  a  very  handsome  full  tuft  of  feathers, 
of  a  rich  black,  with  glossy  greenish  reflections.  This  is  set  off  by 
the  remainder  of  the  crest  being  of  a  deep  chestnut,  and  with  a 
yellowish  stripe  over  each  eye.  As  in  all  grebes,  the  lower  parts 
are  of  a  glistening  white,  the  plumage  being  very  dense,  while  its 
upper  parts  are  for  the  most  part  of  a  brownish  black.  The  wings 
are  of  a  chocolate  brown,  with  the  secondary  feathers  white. 
Its  irides  are  of  a  bright  carmine,  and  the  bill  black,  tipped  with 
yellow.  Its  neck  and  sides  are  of  a  purplish  tint,  which  becomes 
mixed  with  dusky  on  the  flanks.  In  its  winter  plumage  the  bird 
becomes  far  less  conspicuous  by  the  nearly  complete  absence  of 
the  head  ornament,  and  much  of  the  general  coloration  becom- 
ing plain  black  and  white,  as  shown  in  the  figure.  Fledglings 
have  their  heads  curiously  striped  with  white,  gray,  and  rufous, 
and  are  expert  divers  from  the  very  first,  as  is  the  case  with  all 
grebes.  This  bird  has  a  length  of  about  fourteen  inches,  and  an 
extent  of  two  feet,  it  being  of  medium  size  as  compared  with 
other  species  of  the  family.  Usually,  they  select  the  shores  of 
ponds  as  their  breeding  places,  constructing  the  nest  at  the 
water's  edge,  or  a  few  feet  distant  from  it  on  the  broken-down 
rushes  or  other  vegetation  found  in  such  localities,  and  it  is  of 
this  same  material,  too,  that  the  nest  is  built,  it  being  rudely  in- 
terwoven and  piled  up  for  several  inches  with  a  shallow  concav- 
ity on  top.  Sometimes,  the  waters  of  the  pond  rising,  due  to 
heavy  rains,  these  rude  nests  are  floated,  but  I  doubt  that  the 
birds  ever  build  them  so  originally,  as  has  been  stated  by  some 
writers.  When  the  parent  leaves  the  nest  for  any  purpose,  and 
has  the  time  to  do  so,  it  makes  a  practice  of  covering  the  eggs 


OF    THE    UNITED    STATES  169 

over  with  loose  weeds  and  grass,  so  as  to  nearly  or  quite  conceal 
them  from  view.  A  set  of  these  usually  numbers  from  six  to 
eight,  being  smooth,  unmarked,  plain,  and  of  a  whitish  color,  or 
creamy.  They  are  elongated  or  of  an  ellipsoidal  form. 

The  Horned  grebe  is  a  bird  of  powerful  flight,  and  during  the 
seasons  of  migration  makes  long  aerial  journeys,  often  at  con- 
siderable heights.  On  land,  however,  he  is  an  awkward  fowl, 
with  a  waddling  locomotion,  and  when  at  rest  generally  assum- 
ing the  erect  attitude  with  his  curiously  lobed  feet  spread  out  in 
front  of  him,  and  the  body  supported  on  the  backs  of  the  tarsi 
and  on  the  distal  end  of  the  body — the  true  feathery  tail  being 
absent  and  represented  only  by  a  downy  tuft,  quite  rudimentary 
in  character.  Nestlings,  when  placed  on  the  ground,  crawl  about 
in  a  peculiar  manner,  reminding  one  very  much  of  the  action  of 
bats  under  similar  conditions.  Many  years  ago,  when  out  in  a 
boat  shooting  on  a  lake  in  Wisconsin,  I  came  upon  several  of 
these  grebes  in  an  open  space  among  the  reeds  near  the  shore. 
One  or  two  of  them  dived,  but  their  companions  quietly  sank  in 
the  water  until  only  their  beaks  were  to  be  seen  above  that  ele- 
ment, and  in  this  position  they  stealthily  swam  into  the  denser 
vegetal  growth  of  the  border  of  the  lake.  Nearly  all  grebes  re- 
sort to  this  peculiar  means  of  making  their  escape  when  thus 
alarmed.  They  will  dive,  and  as  quick  as  a  flash,  at  the  slightest 
provocation,  thus  often  rendering  them  difficult  birds  to  kill  even 
with  a  gun.  These  dives  often  extend  for  some  considerable  dis- 
tance, and  they  pop  up  again  at  the  most  unexpected  places. 
Grebes  feed  upon  small  fish,  frogs  and  reptiles,  as  well  as  the 
seeds  of  certain  water  plants,  Crustacea  and  aquatic  insects.  In 
speaking  of  the  Horned  grebe,  Audubon  has  said :  "  I  have  ob- 
served in  the  stomachs  of  almost  all  that  I  have  examined,  a 
quantity  of  hair-like  substances  rolled  together  like  the  pellets 
of  owls,  but  have  not  ascertained  whether  or  not  these  masses 
are  disgorged.  They  certainly  cannot  pass  through  the  intes- 
tines. But  unless  birds  of  this  kind  are  kept  in  an  aviary  and 
watched,  this  matter  must  remain  unknown."  This  question  is 
not  referred  to  in  any  other  ornithological  work  the  writer  hap- 
pens to  have  at  hand  at  this  moment,  and  it  would  seem  to  be  one 
into  which  an  examination  would  not  be  altogether  uninterest- 
ing. 

Our  loons  are  all  of  the  genus  Urinator,  there  being  five  species 
of  them.  These  species  are  known  as  Urinator  imber,  the  Loon; 


170  CHAPTERS    ON    THE    NATURAL    HISTORY 

T.  adamsii,  the  Yellow-billed  Loon;  U.  arctic  us,  the  Black-throated 
Loon;  V.  paeificus-,  the  Pacific  Loon;  and  V.  lumme,  the  Red- 
throated  loon.  They  are  all  markedly  handsome  birds;  that  is, 
the  males  in  breeding  plumage  are,  and  although  they  have 
habits  very  much  alike  in  all  the  species  those  habits  are  fre- 
quently found  to  be  very  interesting.  Both  in  America  and  the 
Old  World  loons  are  widely  known  as  divers — the  Great  North- 
ern diver  being  the  name  frequently  applied  to  the  largest  spe- 
cies that  has  a  black  bill  (U.  imber).  As  a  rule  they  far  exceed 
the  grebes  in  size,  but  like  them  their  legs  are  placed  almost  at 
the  extreme  posterior  end  of  the  body,  and  they  have  short  wings 
and  tails.  Unlike  the  grebes,  however,  the  toes  of  loons  are  en- 
tirely webbed  in  front,  instead  of  being  lobed,  and  there  are  a 
number  of  other  anatomical  differences  distinguishing  the  two 
families. 

All  the  loons  have  excellent  powers  of  flight,  but  they  are  most 
at  home  in  the  water,  in  which  element  they  are  divers  of  the  ut- 
most expertness  and  endurance.  On  shore  their  locomotion  is  of 
an  exceedingly  clumsy  character,  they  merely  being  able  to  push 
themselves  along  on  their  breasts  by  means  of  their  legs.  As 
they  build  their  nests  on  the  ground,  sometimes  as  far  as  thirty 
or  forty  yards  from  the  water's  edge,  of  either  some  lake  or 
marsh,  their  mode  of  progression  has  the  effect  of  making  a  regu- 
lar path  to  and  fro  from  the  nest  to  the  water.  They  generally 
lay  but  two  eggs,  and  these  have  been  described  in  general  terms 
as  being  of  an  elongate-ovate  form,  deep  brown  or  olive  color,  and 
somewhat  sparsely  spotted  or  speckled  over  with  a  darker  brown 
or  black  spots.  Newton  says :  "  The  divers  live  chiefly  on  fish, 
and  are  of  eminently  marine  habit,  though  invariably  resorting 
for  the  purpose  of  breeding  to  fresh-water  lakes,  where  they  lay 
their  two  dark-brown  eggs  on  the  very  brink ;  but  they  are  not  in- 
frequently found  far  from  the  sea,  being  either  driven  inland  by 
stress  of  weather,  or  exhausted  in  their  migrations."  Further  on, 
in  speaking  of  their  flight,  he  observes  that  it  "  is  strong  and  they 
can  mount  to  a  great  height,  whence  on  occasion  they  will  rush 
down  with  a  velocity  that  must  be  seen  to  be  appreciated,  and 
this  sudden  descent  is  accompanied  by  a  noise  for  which  those 
who  have  witnessed  it  will  agree  in  thinking  that  thunder  is  too 
weak  an  epithet." 

All  the  loons  have  a  loud  and  penetrating  cry,  which  in  the 
Oreat  Northern  diver  is  peculiarly  harsh,  clear,  and  resonant. 


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OF    THE    UNITED    STATES  173 

This  appears  to  be  especially  the  case  before  a  storm,  and  old 
sailors  on  our  coast,  who  are  very  familiar  with  it,  claim  that 
they  know  when  a  tempest  is  approaching  by  observing  the  rest- 
lessness of  the  loons,  and  the  vigor  with  which  they  utter  their 
notes  at  such  times.  It  is  said  that  this  shrill  scream  of  the  loon 
can  be  heard  at  a  distance  of  a  mile  or  more  from  the  vessel,  a 
statement  we  can  very  easily  believe.  Years  ago,  or  in  1868, 
when  the  present  writer  was  collecting  water  fowl  on  the  lakes  of 
Wisconsin,  he  distinctly  heard  the  cry  of  the  Great  Northern 
diver  at  even  a  longer  distance  than  that,  for  when  the  air  was 
clear  and  motionless,  its  sound  was  carried  to  the  ear  nearly 
across  La  Belle  Lake,  at  a  point  where  it  was  over  two  miles 
wide. 

In  a  brief  chapter,  such  as  the  one  we  are  now  writing  must 
necessarily  be,  it  is  quite  out  of  the  question  to  attempt  to  offer 
descriptions  of  the  beautiful  plumages  of  all  our  species  of  di- 
vers; for  those  the  reader  must  be  content  to  refer  to  any  one  of 
our  now  many  excellent  standard  works  upon  descriptive  orni- 
thology. Nevertheless  with  respect  to  this  part  of  our  subject, 
I  would  fain  invite  attention  to  the  exquisite  plumage  of  the 
male  of  the  Black-throated  diver.  There  is  a  magnificent  mount- 
ed specimen  of  this  bird,  with  others  of  the  same  family,  in  one 
of  the  cases  at  the  Smithsonian  Institution  at  Washington.  In 
conversation  with  Mr.  Eidgway  the  other  day — the  curator  of 
that  department — he  informed  me  that  that  species  was  now  very 
rare  in  our  avifauna,  and  the  Institution  possessed  but  a  few 
mounted  examples,  with  no  skins.  He  kindly  placed  at  my  dis- 
posal the  individual  in  the  case,  and  I  made  an  accurate,  life-size 
sketch  of  its  head,  the  reproduction  of  which,  one-third  reduced, 
is  shown  in  Fig.  46  of  this  chapter. 

The  bill  of  this  species  is  black,  while  the  irides  of  the  eyes  are 
a,  bright  red.  Behind,  the  neck  is  a  clear  gray  which  gradually 
deepens  as  we  pass  to  the  top  of  the  head  and  about  the  eyes. 
In  front,  the  neck  is  black  with  purplish  reflections,  and  this 
region  is  divided  by  a  transverse  bar  of  black  and  white  feathers. 
Below  this,  on  the  sides  of  the  neck,  somewhat  similar  black  and 
white  longitudinal  bars  form  a  distinct  area.  Above,  the  bird 
is  black  with  greenish  reflections,  shading  to  brown  behind. 
Longitudinal  areas  of  white  spots  embellish  this  region — two 
upon  each  side.  The  lower  parts  are  white.  Young  divers  of  this 
species  are  different,  but  the  females  resemble  the  males  though 


174  CHAPTERS    ON    THE    NATURAL    HISTORY 

smaller  in  size.    An  old  male  will  measure  nearly  30  inches  ire 
length. 

Audubon  says:  "  I  once  caught  one  of  these  birds  on  the  Ohio, 
it  having  been  incapacitated  from  diving  by  having  swallowed 
a  large  mussel,  which  stuck  in  its  throat.  It  was  kept  for  several 
days,  but  refused  food  of  every  kind,  exhibited  much  bad  huniorr 
struck  with  its  bill,  and  died  of  inanition.  The  food  of  this  spe- 
cies consists  of  fish,  aquatic  reptiles,  testaceous  mollusca,  and  all 
sorts  of  small  crustaceous  animals.  Its  flesh  resembles  that  of 
the  loon,  and  is  equally  unfit  to  be  eaten." 

Audubon  figures  the  male,  female,  and  young  of  this  species,, 
as  he  does  the  Loon  and  the  Red-throated  diver.  These  were  all 
the  forms  of  Urinator  known  to  him  at  the  time  he  completed  his 
great  work,  as  occurring  in  our  waters.  Since  his  time  both  the 
Yellowr-billed  loon  and  the  Pacific  loon  have  been  added.  His 
account  of  the  Great  Northern  diver  is  one  of  the  best  that  has 
ever  been  written,  and  like  a  good  story  I  have  read  it  many 
times  at  varying  intervals,  but  always  with  the  same  interest. 

Some  authorities  group  the  auks  along  with  the  divers,  mak- 
ing the  two  families  constitute  the  Pygopodes.  But  such  an  ar- 
rangement is  not  borne  out  by  their  morphology,  and  in  my  class- 
ification of  birds,  I  have  long  ago  abandoned  it  as  being  unnat- 
ural. Indeed,  some  forms  of  auks  are  more  nearly  related  to 
the  gulls  (Longipennes)  than  they  are  to  the  loons  and  grebes, 
as  a  study  of  their  osteology  plainly  shows.  In  short,  I  make  a 
suborder  for  the  auks  and  their  immediate  allies,  designating 
them  as  the  Alcce,  as  has  been  done  by  Sharpe  and  others.  They 
are  birds  more  or  less  confined  to  the  circumpolar  regions,  rarely 
occurring  to  the  southward.  In  our  United  States  avifauna  they 
are  represented  by  the  puffins,  the  auklets,  the  murrelets,  the 
guillemots,  the  murres,  the  auks  proper,  and  the  Dovekie.  Of 
these  several  genera  the  genus  Uria  or  the  murres  are  the  most 
nearly  related  to  the  gulls  of  all  the  Alcce,  while  the  famous  ex- 
tinct Great  Auk  was  the  most  lowly  organized  species  of  the 
group  and  should  be  awarded  a  place  in  accordance  in  future 
schemes  of  avian  classification. 

As  is  well  known,  the  literature  and  the  published  figures  of 
the  Great  Auk  are  both  very  extensive,  and  no  doubt  every  one 
who  will  read  the  present  article  is  more  or  less  familiar  with  its 
history.  A  number  of  years  ago  the  Smithsonian  Institution  had 
collected  on  the  Funk  Islands  a  great  quantity  of  the  bones  of  the 


•*'•  '•'•M**'"-fg^x^;;.  ::H*V:;G 


FIG.  47.     WHISKERED  AUKLET. 

Adult  in  breeding  plumage. 


OF  THE  UNITED  STATES  177 

Great  Auk,  and  it  will  be  remembered  that  it  was  upon  these 
islands  that  this  bird  was  known  to  be  last  alive  on  our  shores. 
Of  all  existing  Auks  perhaps  the  species  as  near  related  to  the 
Great  Auk  (Plautus  impennis)  is  the  Razor-billed  auk  (Alca 
torda),  a  form  which  is  abundant  upon  certain  of  the  islands  and 
parts  of  the  coasts  of  the  North  Atlantic,  and  which  in  winter 
may  sometimes  be  found  as  far  south  as  southern  New  England. 
An  adult  specimen  of  this  auk  has  a  length  of  about  eighteen 
inches  and  an  extent  of  twenty-seven.  During  the  summer 
months  both  the  bill  and  the  feet  are  black,  the  former  having  an 
oblique  white  line  across  each  mandible.  The  mouth  within  is  a 
bright  yellow.  Audubon,  who  examined  many  fresh  specimens, 
says  the  iris  is  deep  hazel;  others  state  that  it  is  bluish.  All  the 
lower  parts  are  white,  as  is  also  the  lower  part  of  the  neck  in 
front.  For  the  rest  of  the  general  plumage  they  are  black,  tinged 
with  deep  brown  and  green.  From  the  bill  to  the  eye,  upon  each 
side,  runs  a  narrow  line  of  white;  the  tips  of  the  secondaries  are 
also  white,  the  rest  of  the  wing  being  a  deep  brown.  The  sexes 
a  iv  alike,  but  the  young  are  duller  and  mottled  with  white  about 
the  sides  of  the  head  and  throat.  These  auks  are  good  flyers, 
swimmers,  and  divers.  They  live  largely  upon  shrimps  and  other 
marine  animals.  With  other  Alcidw  they  breed  in  the  fissures 
and  other  apertures  among  the  high  rocky  cliffs  of  their  northern 
home.  The  eggs,  one  or  two  in  number,  are  generally  laid  in  May 
or  June. 

Another  very  interesting  auk,  one  of  the  smaller  species, 
which  rightly  claims  a  place  in  our  avifauna  is  the  Dovekie  (Alle 
dllc).  This  bird  is  found  upon  nearly  all  the  coasts  and  off-lying 
islands  of  the  North  Atlantic  ocean  and  Arctic  seas,  where  it 
breeds.  In  the  winter-time  it  has  been  found  as  far  south  as  New 
Jersey.  A  male  of  this  species  has  a  length  of  something  over 
seven  inches,  having  a  black  bill,  hazel  irides,  and  flesh-colored 
feet.  The  head  and  all  the  upper  parts  are  of  a  glossy  blue-black, 
while  below  the  bird  is  pure  white.  The  female  has  the  throat 
white  in  winter,  and  the  black  is  considerably  duller.  The  eggs 
of  the  dovekie  are  two,  being  of  a  pale  greenish-blue  color. 

\Yhen  it  occurs  off  our  coasts  in  the  winter,  it  is  sometimes 
blown  inland  during  heavy  storms,  but  this  is  by  no  means  fre- 
quently the  case. 

We  also  have  interesting  genera  in  our  anklets  and  murrelets, 
which  are  represented  by  at  least  a  dozen  species — too  many  in- 


178  CHAPTERS    ON    THE    NATURAL    HISTORY 

deed  to  attempt  to  describe  in  the  present  chapter.  Most  of  these 
are  to  be  found  in  the  North  Pacific  and  are  nearly  entirely  ab- 
sent from  the  Atlantic  ocean.  In  size  they  range  all  the  way  from 
the  Least  auklet  ( Simorhynchus  putt'iHux).  which  has  a  length  of 
about  0.50  inches,  to  the  Khinoceros  auklet  (('rrorliiiird  inoiioccr- 
<it«),  which  has  a  length  of  more  than  fifteen  inches.  They  also 
vary  most  remarkably  in  appearance,  plumage,  and  general  char- 
acter, especially  in  the  extraordinary  changes  that  are  under- 
gone by  the  bill  during  the  breeding  season,  and  of  certain  orna- 
ments about  the  eyes  in  some  of  the  related  species  (puffins). 
About  sixteen  years  ago  these  changes  were  closely  studied  and 
ably  described  by  the  eminent  French  naturalist,  Louis  Bureau, 
who  showed  the  times  and  methods  of  moulting  of  these  peculiar 
horny  appendages.  All  these  birds  are  excellent  flyers,  and  swim 
under  water  with  the  greatest  possible  facility.  During  the 
breeding  season  they  are  highly  gregarious,  and  congregate  in 
millions  at  their  breeding  stations — the  rocky  islands  of  their 
northern  home.  They  lay  from  one  to  three  eggs,  are  supposed 
to  be  monogamous;  and  these  exclusively  marine  f owlets  have 
no  notes  beyond  occasional  harsh  cries.  They  all  subsist  upon 
such  animals,  as  small  fish  and  Crustacea,  they  capture  in  the  sea. 
In  the  summer  many  of  them  possess  handsome  crests  and 
plumes  upon  the  top  or  the  sides  of  the  head,  and  the  young  when 
first  hatched  are  covered  with  down,  which  is  long  and  soft. 
During  the  year  they  assume  a  plumage  which  differs  from  their 
parents,  and  the  latter  also  have,  as  a  rule,  a  different  winter  and 
summer  dress.  In  order  to  give  the  reader  an  idea  of  the  appear- 
ance of  an  adult. specimen  of  one  of  these  auklets  in  breeding 
plumage,  I  present  a  drawing  of  the  Whiskered  auklet  (tfim- 
orhyiicliHH  itfH/nta'us),  which  I  copied  from  a  colored  plate  of  Ridg- 
way's,  illustrating  Turner's  "  Contributions  to  the  Natural  His- 
tory of  Alaska"  (p.  120).  These  little  fellows  are  very  clumsy 
walkers  on  the  land,  and  some  of  the  species  but  shuffle  about  in 
the  most  helpless  manner  imaginable.  At  rest  they  stand  erect 
from  the  fact  that  their  legs  are  placed  at  the  posterior  extremity 
of  their  bodies. 

Other  species  of  the  suborder  we  have  under  consideration  are 
seen  in  the  murres  and  guillemots  of  the  genera  I'r'm  and 
Cepphus  respectively,  there  being  about  three  representatives 
of  the  latter,  and  four  of  the  former  genus.  As  a  rule  they 
are  very  different  appearing  birds  as  compared  with  (he 


FIG.  48.     THE  GREAT  AUK  (Phiutus  impennis*). 

*In  Tin'  di'i/f //>•//  Magazine  for  January,  188G  (pp.  352-365),  I  published  an  article  entitled 
"  Feathered  Forms  of  Other  Days,"  illustrated  by  a  number  of  figures,  and  among  them  one  of  the 
Great  Auk,  it  being  a  copyrighted  copy  of  my  original  painting  of  that  famous  bird.  Century  Company 
having  declined  to  loan  me  an  electro  for  the  figure  published  by  them,  I  was  compelled  to  make  a 
photograph  of  my  original,  and  figure  48  (above)  is  the  half-tone  reproduction  of  that  photograph. 

The  Century  figure  appeared  reduced  under  the  word  Alca  in  The  Century  Dictionary,  where  it 
is  stated  that  I  copied  my  Figure  from  Audubon.  Such,  however,  was  by  no  means  the  case,  and  who- 
ever it  was  that  compiled  the  ornithological  articles  of  that  great  work,  either  was  not  familiar  with 
Audubon's  figure  of  the  bird,  or  else  no  artist -or  both.  In  making  this  drawing  I  used  the  mounted 
specimen  of  the  Great  Auk  in  the  Smithsonian  Institution  chiefly  as  my  guide  and  model,  and  made 
use  of  the  Audubon  plate  only  in  part. 

Fig.  48  then  is  a  fac-simile  of  my  original,  and  appears  now  for  the  first  time.  R.  W.  S. 


OF    THE    UNITED    STATES  181 

anklets  and  murrelets,  especially  the  first-named.  This  fact 
will  at  once  be  appreciated  by  turning  to  the  best  known 
form  among  the  guillemots,  namely  the  Black  guillemot  or 
Sea  Pigeon  (C.  grylle).  When  in  full  breeding  plumage,  the 
adult  of  this  species  is  a  sooty  black  bird,  the  feathers  being  tint- 
ed or  tinged  with  green  in  certain  lights.  The  wings,  tail,  bill, 
and  claws  are  all  black,  the  wings  being  ornamented  witlra  targe 
white  area  upon  each  surface.  Its  feet  and  mouth  are  bright  red. 
This  plumage  only  lasts  a  short  time  and  the  seasonal  changes 
for  both  young  and  adult  are  marked.  Black  guillemots  occur 
on  the  North  Atlantic,  European  and  American  coasts.  A  great 
deal  has  been  written  about  the  murres  which  are  found  in  the 
same  localities  with  the  last.  This  is  the  common  murre  (U. 
frolic),  and  myriads  of  these  "congregate  to  breed  on  rocky  is 
lands,  incubating  their  single  eggs  as  closely  together  as  they  can 
find  standing  room  on  the  shelves  of  the  cliffs;  their  ranks  serried 
on  ledge  after  ledge,  and  clouds  of  birds  whirling  through  the 
air.  The  eggs,  so  numerous  as  to  have  commercial  value,  are 
notorious  for  their  variability  in  coloration."  Briinnich's  murre 
(U.  lomvia)  is  also  found  upon  the  coasts  and  islands  of  the  north 
Atlantic  and  eastern  Arctic  oceans,  while  in  similar  localities 
of  the  north  Pacific  and  western  Arctic  oceans,  these  two  species 
are  represented  by  the  California  murre  (U.  t.  calif ornica)  and 
Pall as's  murre  (U.  I.  arra). 

Finally  in  the  suborder  Alcce  belong  the  puffins,  and  these  are 
placed  in  two  genera,  viz.,  Lunda  and  Fratercula.  They  are  re- 
markable, big-billed  auks  of  grotesque  appearance,  very  differ- 
ent from  any  of  the  other  members  of  the  group.  When  on  the 
land  they  stand  well  on  their  feet  and  do  not  squat  down  as  other 
auks  do.  The  Tufted  puffin  (Lunda  cirrhata)  and  the  Horned 
puffin  (Fratercula  corniculata)  are  found  in  the  north  Pacific; 
only  stragglers  of  the  former  having  been  occasionally  taken  on 
the  coasts  of  Maine.  From  Spitsbergen  to  Baffin's  Bay  we  find 
the  Large-billed  puffin  (F.  a.  glacialis),  while  the  Common  puf- 
fin (F.  arctica)  is  the  north  Atlantic  representative  of  this  sub- 
family. 

Among  their  structural  peculiarities  the  puffins  are  noted  for 
their  remarkable  bills,  for  naked  and  skinny  rosettes  at  the  an- 
gles of  the  mouth,  and  for  curious  appendages  over  and  below 
the  eyes.  As  a  rule  the  bill  is  about  as  long  as  the  head,  trian- 
gular on  lateral  aspect,  greatly  compressed  from  side  to  side, 


182  CHAPTERS    ON    THE    NATURAL    HISTORY 

and  as  deep  as  it  is  long.  It  is,  during;  certain  seasons  of  the 
year,  incased  with  bright  colored,  horny,  deciduous  elements, 
that  are  regularly  moulted.  The  history  of  this  peculiar  moult  is 
extremely  interesting  and  varies  in  the  different  species.  The 
sexes  are  alike,  and  their  plumage  does  not  exhibit  much  season- 
al change.  They  lay  their  single  egg  in  the  crevices  of  the 
rocks  or  in  burrows  in  the  ground.  Lunda  lacks  the  horny  ap- 
pendages about  the  eye,  but  has  pendant  tufts  of  silky,  straw- 
colored  feathers  at  the  sides  of  the  head. 

The  Common  puffin  has  the  "  throat  and  sides  of  the  head 
white,  that  color  extending  over  the  eye  and  passing  in  a  narrow 
line  behind  the  occiput.  Upper  part  of  the  head  blackish  gray, 
tinged  with  olive,  paler  anteriorly.  The  middle  of  the  neck  all 
round,  and  all  the  upper  parts  of  the  body,  deep  black,  with  blue 
reflections,  the  quills  tinged  with  brown.  The  whole  under  sur- 
face white,  except  the  upper  parts  of  the  sides,  which  are  dusky." 
It  has  a  length  of  about  13^  inches.  Audubon,  from  whom  I 
quote  this  description,  gives  us  quite  a  long  and  very  interesting 
account  of  this  species.  But  the  natural  history  of  these  extraor- 
dinary birds  would  make  a  very  extended  chapter,  and  occupy 
far  more  space  than  can  be  devoted  to  the  subject  here,  as  much 
as  the  writer  would  like  to  enlarge  upon  it. 


CHAPTER  XIII. 

GULLS  AND  THEIR  ALLIES. 

(Longipennes.) 

HE  transition  from  the  Auk  group  to  the  GnH-grwip  is 
easy  and  not  far  to  seek.  If  one  will  take  the  skeleton 
of  any  one  of  the  typical  Murres  (Uria)  and  critically 
compare  it  with  the  skeleton  of  a  typical  Gull  (Larus), 
it  at  once  becomes  evident  that  the  two  genera,  although  belong- 
ing to  different  suborders,  are  not  by  any  means  so  far  separated 
but  what  the  relationship  is  easily  recognized.  Other  structures 
than  the  skeleton  give  support  to  the  facts  derived  from  a  com- 
parison of  this  kind.  Now  the  Gull  group  constitutes  the  sub- 
order LOXGIPENNES,  and  so  far  as  our  American  avifauna  is  con- 
cerned, it  includes  representatives  of  the  skuas,  the  jaegers,  the 
gulls,  the  terns,  and  the  skimmers.  But  one  skua  is  known  to 
occur  upon  our  coast — the  common  one  (Megalestris  skua),  and 
but  three  jaegers,  all  of  the  genus  Stercorariits.  The  gulls  are 
far  more  numerous,  and  are  represented  by  a  number  of  genera, 
as  Gavia,  Larus,  Rissa,  RJiodostethia,  and  Xema;  including  in  all 
nearly  thirty  species,  the  vast  majority  of  which  belong  to  the 
genus  Larus,  which  is  the  typical  one.  Terns  are  not  quite  as  nu- 
merous as  the  gulls,  but  there  are  still  nearly  twenty  species  of 
them  belonging  to  our  fauna.  They  are  distributed  through  the 
four  genera  Gcloclidulon,  tfterna,  TTi/drochelidon,  and  A nows,  most 
of  them  belonging  to  the  more  typical  genus  Sterna.  Finally,  in 
an  entirely  distinct  family,  we  have  the  Black  skimmer  (Ryn- 
clwps). 

At  different  times  during  the  past  few  years  the  present  writer 
has  made  extensive  comparative  studies  of  the  morphology  of 
this  group  of  birds,  and  especially  of  their  osteology,  and  from 
these  investigations  has  been  led  to  the  opinion  that  the  follow- 
ing scheme  of  classification  expresses  the  relations  of  these  birds 
to  each  other  within  the  suborder. 


)  Sternitii 

>M. 

{  RYNCHOPIDJE. 


So  far  as  anatomy  goes,  and  to  some  extent  habit  and  appear- 
ance, the  gulls  merge  almost  insensibly  into  the  terns,  as,  for 
example,  the  gnll  known  as  Sabine's  gull  (Xema  sabinii)  is  quite 


184 


CHAPTERS    ON    THE    NATURAL    HISTORY 


nearly  related  to  such  a  Tern  as  the  Arctic  tern  (Sterna  para- 
disvcu),  while  on  the  other  hand  the  Gull-billed  tern  (Gelochelidon 
nilotica)  more  or  less  nearly  approaches  some  of  the  stouter  - 
1'ormed  gulls  of  the  genus  Larus.  As  for  the  Black  skimmer 


FIG.  49.     Ross's  GULL  (Rhodostethia  rosea).     (Reduced.) 

The  upper  figure  is  an  adult  male  in  winter  plumage ;    the  lower  one,  a  young  female  of  the  first 
autumn.     Drawn  by  the  Author.* 

( l\i/nchops  nigra),  I  have  elsewhere  called  attention  to  what  is  by 
no  means  either  an  uninteresting  nor  insignificant  fact,  that  in 
some  parts  of  its  osteology  it  bears  a  striking  resemblance  to  that 


*In  making  this  drawing  I  was  assisted  by  the  two  plates  (colored)  of  Mr.  John  L.  Ridgway,  il- 
lustrating the  "  Report  of  the  International  Polar  Expedition  to  Point  Barrow,  Alaska,"  by  Lieut.  P. 
H.  Ray,  U.8  A.  (Government). 


OF    THE    UNITED    STATES  185 

remarkable  extinct  cretaceous  bird  Ichthyornis,  of  which  several 
species  have  been  found.  Heretofore  the  Black  skimmer  has  been 
very  generally  considered  by  ornithologists  to  be  but  a  sort  of 
a  tern  with  a  different  kind  of  a  head;  but  this  is  by  no  means 
the  case,  for  if  any  one  will  take  the  pains  to  structurally  examine 
an  example  of  this  species,  he  will  soon  be  confronted  by  the  fact 
that,  instead  of  being  but  a  "modified  tern,"  it  is  "separated 
from  the  other  longipennine  families  by  gaps  of  no  mean  width. 
In  other  words,  it  is  a  very  distinct  family.  The  skuas  and  jae- 
gers stand  between  the  Rynchopidce  and  the  Laridw,  and  from 
what  has  just  been  said  wre  are  prepared  to  learn  that  they  are 
far  more  closely  allied  to  the  latter  than  they  are  to  the  skimmers. 
We  have  already  stated  above  how  this  gull  group  is  allied  to 
the  auks,  and  upon  carrying  our  investigations  still  further  we 
can  find  no  objection  to  Huxley's  observation  that  "  the  gulls 
grade  insensibly  into  the  Proccllariidce"  while,  on  the  other  hand, 
my  own  studies  fully  convince  me,  in  so  far  as  their  osteology 
goes,  an  even  closer  relation  exists  between  the  gulls  and  the 
representatives  of  the  great  plover  group  of  birds,  or  the  Litni- 
co1<r.  The  Procellariidce  are  generally  considered  to  include  such 
families  as  the  albatrosses,  the  fulmars,  the  shearwaters,  and  the 
petrels;  and  of  these  perhaps  the  fulmars,  in  their  general  ex- 
ternal appearance,  are  more  gull-like  than  any  of  the  others 
mentioned. 

Tracing  our  Longipennes  back  into  geological  times,  there  can 
be  no  question  but  what  we  can  see  at  least  some  of  their  ances- 
tors in  the  genus  of  toothed  birds  of  the  cretaceous  beds  of  Kan- 
sas— the  genus  Ichthi/orni-s,  already  mentioned  above;  and,  in  tht* 
various  geological  horizons  existing  between  those  comparatively . 
early  times  and  the  present  epoch,  many  fossil  skeletons  of  gulls 
and  gull-like  birds  have  occurred.  Many  of  these  are  in  the 
hands  of  science,  both  here  and  abroad.  A  few  years  ago  the 
present  writer  described  a  large  collection  of  fossil  birds  from  the 
Equus  beds  of  Oregon  (late  tertiary,  U.  S.),  belonging  to  Professor 
Thomas  Condon  and  our  very  distinguished  paleontologist,  the 
late  Professor  E.  D.  Cope,  of  Philadelphia.  In  that  collection  I 
found  the  fossil  bones  of  several  gulls  and  terns,  which  were 
identical  with  those  of  existing  species  of  our  present  avifauna. 
Others  were  extinct,  but  nevertheless  very  closely  resembled 
forms  now  in  existence.  In  short,  this  material  threw  but  little 
light  upon  the  question  of  the  line  of  longipennine  ancestry. 


186  CHAPTERS    ON    THE    NATURAL    HISTORY 

There  must  have  been  a  great  many  forms  that  became  extinct 
between  the  times  of  the  cretaceous  and  the  tertiary,  and  many 
of  these  yet  remain  to  be  found. 

The  gull  selected  for  illustration  in  the  present  connection  is 
the  species  known  as  Boss's  gull,  or  Ross's  rosy  gull,  it  having 
been  likewise  called  the  Wedge-tailed  gull,  from  the  fact  that 
its  tail  is  of  the  cuneate  form.  Beyond  this  latter  peculiarity, 
and  its  lovely  rose-tinted  breast  in  the  adult,  it  has  most  of  the 
characters  common  to  any  of  our  smaller  and  typical  gulls.  Dur- 
ing the  breeding  season  it  has  a  plumage  somewhat  different 
from  that,  as  shown  in  the  figure;  the  adult  being  white,  beauti- 
fully shaded  with  rose,  with  a  pearly-blue  mantle,  and  a  black 
collar  about  the  neck.  The  bill  is  black,  while  the  feet,  eyelids, 
and  gape  are  a  bright  red.  It  has  a  length  of  about  fourteen 
inches.  This  is  a  circumpolar  species,  of  the  Arctic  regions,  a 
tVw  stragglers  only  occasionally  coming  south  to  the  most  north- 
ern parts  of  the  North  Temperate  Zone.  At  one  time  it  was  ex- 
ceedingly rare  in  museums  and  collections,  but  about  ten  or  more 
years  ago  a  large  number  were  taken  at  Point  Barrow  by  one  of 
the  United  States  Government  expeditions.  I  believe  that  its 
breeding  stations  still  remain  unknown,  and  we  yet  remain  in 
ignorance  of  many  of  the  habits  of  this,  one  of  the  most  beautiful 
of  all  the  existing  gulls. 

Red,  white,  black,  pearly-blue,  and  rarely,  rose,  are  the  pre- 
vailing colors  of  this  family  of  birds.  The  young  may  show  vari- 
ous shades  of  brown  or  gray,  or  are  dusky.  Adults  in  the  breed- 
ing season  are,  as  a  rule,  white,  with  a  mantle  of  pearly-blue. 
Some  of  the  species  have  black  heads,  and  often  much  black  is 
seen  at  the  wing-tips  or  the  primary  feathers  of  the  same.  Marked 
changes  of  plumage  take  place  with  age,  and  different  seasons, 
though  usually  the  sexes  are  always  alike.  Several  years  elapse 
before  the  mature  plumage  is  attained,  the  color  of  the  bill  and 
feet  changing  at  the  same  time.  The  latter  are  invariably 
webbed,  and  not  illy  fitted  for  ambulatorial  purposes.  Commonly 
the  tail  of  a  gull  is  even,  rarely  forked  or  wedge-shaped,  and 
iH'ver  has  median  projecting  feathers  as  in  many  of  the  jaegers. 
All  the  bigger  forms  have  powerfully  hooked  beaks,  apt  to  soize 
the  small  fishes  upon  which  they  largely  feed.  Indeed,  the  Great 
bin rk -backed  gull  is  a  very  marine  raptorial  pirate,  who  will  not 
only  rob  other  gulls  and  their  kind  of  their  prey,  but  will  make 
excursions  inland  and  hunt  for  the  young  and  eggs  of  other  birds 


OF    THE    UNITED    STATES  187 

to  devour  them.  As  a  group  they  are  cosmopolitan,  and  in  suitable 
locations  on  our  coasts,  and  over  our  great  lakes  and  rivers,  they 
occur  in  vast  numbers. 

As  a  rule,  gulls  build  their  nests  upon  the  ground,  and  lay  from 
two  to  three  eggs,  and  these  vary  much  in  appearance,  but  are 
commonly  of  a  cream  color,  heavily  and  variously  blotched  with 
dark  spots  and  markings.  I  have  eaten  the  eggs  of  numy  of  the 
species  and  always  found  them  excellent.  Many  of  these  birds 
procure  their  food  by  plunging  in  the  water  for  it;  others  skim 
over  the  surface  and  pick  it  up;  some  rob  other  birds  of  it;  while 
some  may  gather  shell-fish  and  other  marine  invertebrates  on  the 
beaches  and  flats  at  low  water.  They  are  all  good  flyers,  and 
swim  with  great  buoyancy,  ease,  and  grace.  Loud,  harsh  notes 
are  given  vent  to  by  the  big  species,  while  the  smaller  forms  have 
shriller  voices,  and  the  young  ones  have  a  querulous  whine,  which 
is  peculiar  to  them. 

According  to  a  writer  at  hand,  "  Several  circumstances  con- 
spire to  render  the  study  of  these  birds  difficult.  With  some  ex- 
ceptions, they  are  almost  identical  in  form;  while  in  size  they 
show  an  unbroken  series,  individual  variability  in  size  is  high; 
northerly  birds  are  usually  appreciably  larger  than  those  of  the 
same  species  hatched  further  south;  the  male  exceeds  the  female 
a  little  (usually);  very  old  birds  are  likely  to  be  larger,  with 
especially  stouter  bill,  than  young  or  middle-aged  ones.  There 
is,  besides,  a  certain  plasticity  of  organization,  or  ready  suscepti- 
bility to  modifying  influences,  so  marked  that  the  individuals 
hatched  at  a  particular  spot  may  be  appreciably  different  in  some 
slight  points  from  others  reared  but  a  few  miles  away.  Incredible 
as  it  may  appear,  species  and  even  genera  have  been  based  upon 
such  shadowy  characters.7'  Some  of  the  most  extensive  and 
highly  interesting  accounts  of  our  commoner  species  of  gulls  are 
given  by  A  udubon  in  his  great  work  upon  American  birds,  but  to 
be  appreciated  these  must  be  read  in  extenso,  and  I  would  be 
guilty  of  an  injustice  to  quote  any  one  of  them  only  in  part. 

Many  of  the  terns  are  of  small  size,  and  the  largest  of  them 
rarely  equal  in  this  respect  the  average-sized  gulls.  With  but 
few  exceptions,  the  tail  in  them  is  deeply  forked,  the  wings  long 
and  pointed,  and  the  bill  slender  and  acutely  sharp,  having  much 
the  form  of  the  head  of  a  narrow  lance.  On  land  they  do  not 
walk  as  well  as  the  gulls,  as  their  feet  are  more  posteriorly 
placed,  while  the  webbing  of  the  same  is  not  as  perfect  as  a  rule. 


188  CHAPTERS    ON    THE    NATURAL    HISTORY 

Delicate  and  slender  in  general  contour,  the  sexes  are  barely  to 
be  distinguished  by  external  characters,  while  the  plumages  for 
season  and  age  markedly  vary. 

Confining  ourselves  to  the  North  American  forms,  it  is  to  be 
observed  that  the  pattern  of  their  coloration  is  quite  constant  for 
the  majority  of  them.  White  predominates,  and  this,  in  some 
species,  may  be  rose-tinted  upon  the  under  parts.  Most  fre- 
quently the  head  is  black-capped,  and  the  back,  or  mantle,  as  it 
is  here  called,  is  of  a  delicate  pearl-blue  or  clear  gray.  The  pri- 
maries of  the  wings  are  black,  or  dark-colored.  As  exceptions 
we  mav  note  that  Trudeau's  tern  has  a  white  head  with  a  black 


FIG.  50.     TRUDEAU'S  TERN. 

Natural  size.    Drawn  by  the  Author. 

stripe  upon  either  side  (Fig.  50);  and  in  others  the  black  cap  is  in- 
terrupted by  a  white  frontal  crescent.  In  the  genus  Hydroclicli- 
don  the  species  are  nearly  entirely  black,  while  the  Noddy  terns 
have  the  whole  body  of  a  fine  fuliginous  brown.  The  bill  is  vari- 
ously colored,  the  chief  shades  being  yellow,  red,  black,  and 
orange,  often  two  of  the  colors  being  combined.  Structurally, 
they  depart  but  slightly  from  the  gulls,  and  this  departure  is 
\<T\  gradual  as  we  pass  from  the  more  laro-sternine  types  to  the 
distinctly  tern-end  of  the  series.  In  flight  they  are  buoyant, 
while  at  other  times  they  far  exceed  the  gulls  in  dash  and  vigor. 
p]specially  is  this  last  the  case  when  they  are  feeding,  for  they 
have  the  habit  of  balancing  themselves  on  wing  over  the  water 


OF    THE    UNITED    STATES  189 

with  bill  pointed  directly  downward,  wrhen  with  a  sudden  dive 
they  plunge  into  that  element  to  capture  the  small  fish  upon 
which  most  the  species  largely  subsist.  Others,  and  usually  the 
smaller  forms  of  terns,  skim,  swallow  fashion,  over  marshes  and 
similar  wet  places,  to  gratify  their  more  or  less  insectivorous 
tastes.  Thus  they  have  gained  for  themselves  the  almost  world- 
wide name  of  sea-swallow,  and  it  is  quite  suited  to  thenr  -Terns 
are  very  indifferent  swimmers,  however,  being  far  behind  the 
gulls  in  this  particular.  A  writer  upon  this  subject  says,  "  The 
eggs  are  laid  in  a  slight  depression  in  the  ground,  generally  the 
shingle  of  beaches,  or  in  a  tussock  of  grass  in  a  marsh,  or  in  a 
rude  nest  of  sticks  in  low  bushes.  They  are  one  to  three  in  num- 
ber, variegated  in  color.  Most  of  the  species  are  maritime,  and 
such  is  particularly  the  case  with  noddies,  but  nearly  all  are 
found  inland.  They  are  noisy  birds,  of  shrill  penetrating  voice, 
and  no  less  gregarious  than  gulls,  often  assembling  in  multitudes 
to  breed,  and  generally  moving  in  company.  Species  occur  near 
water  in  almost  every  part  of  the  world,  and  most  of  them  are 
widely  distributed.  Of  those  occurring  in  North  America,  the 
majority  are  found  in  corresponding  latitudes  in  the  Old  World. 
Some  seventy  species  are  currently  reported.  The  true  number 
is  apparently  just  about  that  of  the  gulls  (about  fifty)." 

The  present  writer  has  collected  the  Black  tern  in  the  marshes 
of  Wisconsin,  and  as  far  in  the  interior  as  Wyoming.  I  have 
taken  the  Least  tern  frequently  on  Long  Island  Sound  and  the 
Potomac  river,  while  the  Noddy  has  often  fallen  to  my  gun  on 
the  coast  of  Florida  and  in  the  Bahamas,  as  has  also  the  Sooty 
tern  (Sterna  fuliginosa).  There,  too,  I  have  collected  the  lovely 
Roseate  tern,  and  numerous  other  species.  But  wherever  we 
find  them,  or  of  whatever  species,  they  cannot  fail  to  command 
our  attention  and  excite  our  interest,  for  among  sea  fowl,  at 
least,  they  are  to  be  reckoned  with  the  loveliest  forms  of  bird- 
life  that  cleave  the  air  or  fearlessly  plunge  into  the  waters  to 
capture  their  finny  prey. 

We  have  in  our  United  States  avifauna  four  different  and 
well-marked  species  of  jaegers  or  skua  gulls.  These  have  been 
placed  in  two  distinct  genera,  that  of  Megalestris  and  of  Stercor- 
uriufi;  the  first-named  containing  the  Common  skua  (M.  skua), 
and  the  latter  the  Fomarine  jaeger,  the  Parasitic  jaeger,  and 
the  Long-tailed  jaeger  (tf.  pontariH-us,  $.  parasiticus,  and  *Sf.  longi- 
x*  respectively). 


190 


CHAPTERS    ON    THE    NATURAL    HISTORY 


The  word  skua  is  of  Fieroese  origin,  and  jaeger,  or  more  prop- 
erly jaeger,  is  the  German  word  for  hunter,  having  reference,  as 
w<>  shall  soon  see,  to  the  habits  of  the  bird.  Their  technical 
names  are  equally  well  chosen,  and  we  have  but  to  remind  the 
reader  that  Stercorarius  is  from  the  Latin  and  signifies  "  a  scav- 
enger," while  poniarinus  is  derived  from  the  Greek  and  refers  to 
the  large  horny  "  cere  "  surmounting  the  external  narial  aper- 
tures of  the  superior  mandibles  in  these  birds — a  character  quite 
unique  among  marine  forms.  The  presence  of  this  structure  there 
is  interesting  from  another  point  of  view,  for  the  jaegers  are  dis- 
tinctly rapacious  in  habit,  as  are  the  cered-beaked  raptores 


FIG.  51.     THE  LONG-TAILED  JAEGER. 


among  the  terrestrial  birds  of  prey.  Skuas  or  jaegers  have  pow- 
erful beaks,  as  a  rule,  and  strong  feet,  that  are  full  webbed,  with 
the  claws  all  large  and  curved.  Another  peculiarity  is  seen  in 
the  tail,  the  main  part  of  which  is  not  especially  long,  being 
square,  with  the  two  central  feathers  more  or  less  elongated. 
Tliis  character  is  particularly  well  developed  in  the  Long-tailed 
jaeger,  of  which  I  present  a  drawing.  There  are  some  good 
mounted  specimens  of  this  species  in  the  collections  of  the  Smith- 
sonian Institution,  and  upon  examining  them  I  find  the  plumage 


OF    THE    UNITED    STATES  191 

in  the  two  sexes  to  be  practically  alike,  but  in  the  female  the 
middle-tail  feathers  are  not  so  long  as  they  are  in  the  male. 

The  parts  below,  as  well  as  the  neck,  are  white,  the  latter  being 
shaded  with  light  yellow.  The  head  behind  is  sub-crested,  the 
feathers  being  of  a  brownish-black  color,  which  is  also  extended 
to  include  the  area  anterior  to  the  cheeks  and  the  top  of  the  head. 
Above,  this  species  is  of  a  deep  slate  color,  with  the  exception  of 
the  primaries  and  secondaries  of  the  wings,  the  lateral  tail-feath- 
ers and  the  posterior  halves  of  the  central  pair,  all  these  parts 
being  of  a  blackish-brown,  more  or  less  lustrous  in  tint.  It  is  not 
uncommon,  I  learn,  to  meet  with  melanotic  phases  of  plumage  in 
the  jaegers,  to  an  extent  to  be  considered  almost  a  normal  spe- 
cial condition.  As  a  rule,  these  birds  inhabit  the  sea  coasts  and 
great  lakes  of  the  arctic  and  sub-arctic  regions,  but  there  are  ex- 
ceptions to  this,  and  the  Long-tailed  jaeger  in  winter  occurs  as 
far  south  as  the  Gulf  of  Mexico.  With  us,  however,  they  all  pass 
to  the  far  northward  to  breed.  Their  habits  of  nidification  are 
more  or  less  like  the  gulls,  and  they  lay  from  two  to  three  dark- 
colored  eggs,  variously  spotted. 

In  the  matter  of  flight,  the  jaegers  are  pre-eminently  powerful 
and  rapid,  and  as  they  are  the  most  relentless  avian  pirates  that 
infest  the  high  seas,  they  put  their  varied  aerial  accomplishments 
to  no  less  base  a  purpose  than  persistently  harassing  all  the 
smaller  species  of  gulls  and  the  terns,  forcing  them  to  either  dis- 
gorge their  food  or  robbing  them  of  such  as  they  may  have  in 
their  beaks  at  the  time  of  their  making  their  attacks. 

A  great  deal  more  might  be  said  here  about  these  voracious 
longipennine  robbers,  but  we  will  pass  now  to  a  consideration  of 
the  remaining  subfamily  of  the  group  of  the  terns.  Of  these  we 
have  many  species,  for  which  some  four  genera  have  been  cre- 
ated, as  mentioned  above. 

Unless  others  have  been  discovered  within  the  past  very  few 
years,  I  am  familiar  with  but  three  species  of  the  birds  we  call 
skimmers,  of  the  genus  Ryncliops.  Two  of  them  are  found  in 
Asia,  and  there  is  our  own  species,  known  as  the  Black  skimmer 
or  Razor-bill,  which  on  the  Atlantic  coast  ranges  as  far  north  as 
New  Jersey,  but  has  been  occasionally  taken  in  as  high  latitude 
as  that  of  the  Bay  of  Fundy. 

Audubon  has  an  excellent  colored  drawing  of  the  Black  skim- 
mer (R.  niger),  in  his  work,  and  this  I  have  copied  to  illustrate 
this  bird  (Fig.  52). 


192 


CHAPTERS    ON    THE    NATURAL    HISTORY 


A  Skimmer  has  the  proximal  half  of  its  bill  a  bright  carmine 
red,  the  balance  being  black.  But  the  curious  form  of  this  bird's 
beak  is  what  commands  the  attention  of  every  one  who  may 
study  the  species.  "  Among  the  singular  bills  of  birds/'  says 
a  writer,  "  that  frequently  excite  our  wonder,  that  of  the  skim- 
mers is  one  of  the  most  anomalous.  The  under  mandible  is  much 
longer  than  the  upper,  compressed  like  a  knife-blade;  its  end  is 
obtuse;  its  sides  come  abruptly  together,  and  are  completely 


FIG.  52.     THE  BLACK  SKIMMER. 

About  one-third  the  size  of  life. 

soldered;  the  upper  edge  is  as  sharp  as  the  under,  and  fits  a 
groove  in  the  upper  mandible;  the  jawbone,  viewed  apart,  looks 
like  a  short-handled  pitchfork.  The  upper  mandible  is  also  com 
pressed,  but  less  so,  nor  is  it  so  obtuse  at  the  end;  its  substance 
is  nearly  hollow,  with  light  cancellated  structure,  such  as  is  in  a 
toucan;  it  is  freely  movable  by  means  of  an  elastic  hinge  at  the 
forehead." 


OF  THE  UNITED  STATES  193 

Speaking  in  a  general  way,  the  Black  skimmer  may  be  said 
to  have  a  plumage  of  black  and  white,  while  its  feet  in  life  are 
red.  They  range  in  length  from  sixteen  to  twenty  inches,  and 
the  females  are  smaller  than  the  males.  During  the  breeding 
season  the  white  of  the  under  parts  is  tinted  with  a  cream  or 
rose  color,  calling  to  mind  similar  changes  in  some  gulls.  The 
young  are  duller  in  color,  being  of  a  light  grayish-brown,  though 
they  are  white  below.  The  form  of  the  bill  is  not  so  decided,  and 
the  upper  and  lower  mandibles  are  of  more  equal  length.  Nest- 
lings of  this  species  are  extremely  interesting  subjects  for  study. 
A  great  many  years  ago,  or  in  18G5,  I  had  abundant  opportunity 
to  observe  the  habits  of  skimmers  on  the  coasts  of  Florida,  as 
well  as  on  the  Bahama  Islands  and  the  West  Indies.  Along  the 
shore  line  of  western  and  southern  Florida  especially,  I  saw  thou- 
sands of  them  in  those  days.  They  lit  in  extensive  "  flocks  "  on 
the  sand  bars,  or  in  loose,  scattering  parties  skimmed  over  the 
surface  of  the  water,  often  sallying  up  the  large  rivers  for  some 
little  distance  or  extending  their  flights  to  include  the  great 
bayous  that  were  not  too  far  removed  from  the  coast.  They  feed 
principally  at  night  or  evening  time,  or  upon  cloudy  days.  Ac- 
cording to  Audubon,  who  has  left  us  an  excellent  account  of 
Ryncliops,  "  they  spend  the  wrhole  night  on  the  wing,  searching 
diligently  for  food.  Of  this  I  had  ample  and  satisfactory  proof 
when  ascending  the  St.  John  river,  in  east  Florida,  in  the  United 
States  schooner  Hpark.  The  hoarse  cries  of  the  skimmers  never 
ceased  more  than  an  hour,  so  that  I  could  easily  know  whether 
they  were  passing  upward  or  downward  in  the  dark.  Being 
aware  of  the  observations  being  made  on  this  species  by  M.  Les- 
son, I  paid  all  imaginable  attention  to  them,  always  aided  by  an 
excellent  glass,  in  order  to  find  whether  or  not  they  fed  on  bi- 
valve shellfish  found  in  the  shallows  of  sand  bars  and  other 
places  at  low  water,  but  not  in  one  single  instance  did  I  see  any 
such  occurrence,  and  in  regard  to  this  matter  I  agree  with  Wil- 
son in  asserting  that,  while  with  us,  these  birds  do  not  feed  on 
shellfish.  While  watching  the  movements  of  the  Black  skim- 
mer as  it  was  searching  for  food,  sometimes  a  full  hour  before  it 
wras  dark,  I  have  seen  it  pass  its  lower  mandible  at  an  angle  of 
about  forty-five  degrees  in  the  water,  whilst  its  movable  upper 
mandible  was  elevated  a  little  above  the  surface.  In  this  man- 
ner, with  wings  raised  and  extended,  it  plowed,  as  it  were,  the 
element  in  which  its  quarry  lay  to  the  extent  of  several  yards  at 


194  CHAPTERS    ON    THE    NATURAL    HISTORY 

ti  time,  rising  and  falling  alternately,  and  that  as  frequently  as 
it  thought  it  necessary  for  securing  its  food  when  in  sight  of  it; 
for  I  am  certain  that  these  birds  never  immerse  their  lower  man- 
dible until  they  have  observed  the  object  of  their  pursuit,  for 
which  reason  their  eyes  are  constantly  directed  downward,  like 
those  of  terns  and  gannets." 

The  flight  of  the  Skimmer  is  elegant  in  the  extreme,  being  more 
interesting  and  superior  to  that  of  any  of  the  terns.  Their  cries, 
however,  when  upon  wing,  are  harsh  and  more  or  less  discordant. 
A  slight  excavation  in  the  sand  is  the  sole  apology  for  a  nest  that 
this  bird  ever  attempts  to  make.  In  this  it  lays,  about  the  first 
week  in  May,  three  eggs.  These  are  pure  white,  heavily  blotched 
with  black  and  various  shades  of  dark  brown,  and  often  patches 
of  a  light  purple  color. 

One  of  the  earliest,  and  at  the  same  time  one  of  the  best  ac- 
counts of  the  Black  skimmer  is  given  by  Darwin  in  his  famous 
work  entitled  Journal  of  Researches  into  the  Natural  History  and 
Geology  of  the  Countries  visited  during  the  voyage  of  H.  M.  8. 
Beagle  round  the  world,  under  the  command  of  Captain  Fitz-Roy, 
R.  N.  It  is  found  in  the  first  volume  (p.  174),  and  a  figure  of  the 
head  of  the  skimmer  is  given:  one  of  the  earliest  drawings  of  the 
species  known  to  me  (1846). 


CHAPTER  XIV. 

PELICANS  AND  THEIR  RELATIVES. 

(Steganopodes.) 

E  have  three  forms  of  Pelicans  (Pelecanidce)  in-the  avi- 
fauna of  this  country.  These  are  the  American  White 
Pelican  (Pelecanus  erythrorhynchus),  the  Brown  Peli- 
can (P.  fuscus),  and  the  California  brown  pelican  (P. 
calif  orniciis).  The  White  pelican  has  been  found  in  the  interior 
as  high  north  as  Latitude  01°,  and  ranges  south  into  Central 
America.  Plenty  of  them  are  found  in  suitable  localities  in  the 
valley  of  the  Mississippi,  along  the  Gulf  coast,  on  the  coast  of 
California,  and  southward.  In  the  northeastern  States  they  are 
now  only  found  as  rare  stragglers.  Brown  pelicans  are  Atlantic 
coast  birds,  and  occur  plentifully  in  the  Bahamas  and  the  West 
Indies.  They  rarely  come  north  of  North  Carolina,  and  they  range 
southward  along  the  Mexican  and  Central  American  coast  lines. 
In  a  few  instances  they  have  been  found  in  the  interior  (Illinois). 
I  am  not  familiar  with  the  California  brown  pelican,  but  it  is  a 
form  said  by  its  describers  to  be  found  on  the  Pacific  coast  from 
the  latitude  of  San  Francisco  southward. 

As  the  name  indicates,  the  plumage  of  the  American  white 
pelican  is  principally  white,  but  the  primaries  of  the  wings  are 
black.  Sometimes  the  tail  feathers  are  tinged  with  rose,  and  the 
lengthened  feathers  of  the  back  of  the  head  and  the  breast  are  a 
fine  straw  yellow.  Its  bill  and  feet  are  also  generally  of  this 
color.  This  bird  is  remarkable  for  the  peculiar  triangular  horny 
excrescence  which  is  developed  on  the  upper  side  of  the  bill  of 
the  male  during  the  breeding  season,  and  which  after  that  time 
falls  off  without  leaving  a  trace  of  its  ever  having  existed  there. 
This  species  lays  two  or  three  eggs.  The  brown  pelican,  of  which 
I  give  a  figure,  has  a  dark  plumage  that  is  considerably  varie- 
gated. Most  of  the  head  is  white,  shaded  with  yellow  on  the 
crown;  the  former  color  bordered  with  dark  chestnut,  runs  down 
the  neck.  The  wings  are  mostly  blackish  and  the  tail  is  gray. 
Above,  the  body  is  dusky,  becoming  gray  on  the  wing  coverts, 
while  below  it  is  inclined  to  be  more  brown,  with  lateral  white 
stripes.  A  mixture  of  yellow,  blackish,  and  chestnut  feathers 
are  found  on  the  forepart  of  the  neck,  low  down  towards  the 


196  CHAPTERS    ON    THE    NATURAL    HISTORY 

breast.  It  lays  from  two  to  three  eggs,  which  are  while,  with 
chalky  shells.  As  we  all  know,  the  principal  character  of  these 
truly  magnificent  birds  is  the  great  skinny  pouch  attached  to  the 


FIG.  53.     THE  BKOWN  PELICAN. 

By  the  author,  after  Audubou,  and  greatly  reduced. 

entire  borders  of  their  very  weak  lower  jaws.  This  pouch  is  best 
developed  in  the  Brown  Pelican,  where  it  extends  at  least  half 
\v;iy  down  the  neck. 


OF    THE    UNITED    STATES  197 

Pelicans  consume  myriads  of  small  fishes,  rarely  large  ones, 
and  they  dip  them  up  by  means  of  the  pouch  just  described.  At 
one  time  I  was  among  the  Brown  pelicans  for  months  on  the 
Bahama  Cays,  and  it  was  very  interesting  to  watch  them  fishing. 
They  would  plunge  down  from  on  wing  sometimes,  and  at  others 
dive  while  swimming  on  the  water.  By  a  muscular  contrivance 
they  can  both  contract  their  pouch  or  expand  it  by  a  lateral  ex- 
tension of  the  sides  of  the  jaw  to  which  it  is  attached.  The  little 
fishes  are  swallowed  by  the  bird  tossing  its  head  backwards,  con- 
tracting its  pouch,  and  swallowing  the  prey.  During  this  act 
the  water  taken  up  at  the  dive  runs  out  at  the  angles  of  the 
mouth.  In  feeding  their  young  they  disgorge  into  their  opened 
mouths  a  quantity  of  partially-digested  fish  from  their  crops,  and 
do  not,  as  is  commonly  supposed,  carry  living  fishes  to  them  in 
their  pouches.  Still  less  is  it  hardly  necessary  for  me  here  to 
disprove  the  story  that  a  pelican  feeds  its  young  with  blood  from 
its  own  breast — such  a  myth  may  answer  for  the  decorative  pur- 
poses of  great  stained-glass  windows  in  churches,  but  surely  the 
truth-loving  natural  historian  of  animals  finds  no  use  for  the 
statement.  Our  space  is  too  valuable  here  to  enter  into  the  ques- 
tion of  the  many  ingenious  suggestions  which  have  been  advanced 
to  explain  the  origin  of  this  mythical  legend.  We  leave  that  to 
others.  Pelicans  are  both  excellent  swimmers  and  divers.  Flight 
is  greatly  enhanced  by  the  air  which  thoroughly  permeates  their 
skeletons  and  other  parts,  while  their  large,  completely  webbed 
feet  account  fully  for  the  possession  of  their  swimming  propensi- 
ties. These  birds  are  often  kept  alive  in  zoological  gardens  and 
private  parks,  and  those  who  visited  Chicago  at  the  time  of  the 
World's  Fair  may  remember  the  number  of  Brown  pelicans  that 
were  kept  on  the  waters  of  the  beautiful  and  picturesque  lagoons 
that  formed  such  a  distinctive  feature  of  the  magic  White  City, 
now  a  thing  of  the  past. 

It  is  quite  a  rare  thing  to  see  a  White  pelican  perch  in  a  tree, 
though  less  so  to  see  a  Brown  one  in  such  a  situation.  Neither 
species  has  any  great  fear  of  man,  the  White  ones  during  flight 
often  passing  close  to  him,  or  to  buildings  in  towns  and  cities 
during  their  migrations.  After  gorging  themselves  with  food 
they  will  often  doze  for  a  long  time  on  the  water,  or  on  some  sand 
bar  or  similar  place.  Under  these  circumstances,  if  suddenly 
sin-prised,  they  may  be  taken  alive,  as  they  rise  on  the  wing  with 
difficulty,  due  not  only  to  the  state  they  are  in,  but  also  from  the 


198  CHAPTERS    ON    THE    NATURAL    HISTORY 

faH  that  they  may  have  their  pouches  half  filled  with  fish.  They 
are  great  gluttons.  In  some  of  the  Bahama  isles  I  have  ob- 
served as  many  as  fifty  Brown  pelicans  in  one  flock,  with  others 
on  the  water  fishing.  On  the  coasts  of  Cuba  and  Hayti  and  the 
Mosquito  coast  of  Mexico,  I  have  observed  both  species.  In 
southeastern  Europe  and  the  adjacent  countries  of  Asia  and 
Africa  they  have  a  species  of  pelican  (P.  onocrotalus)  much  re- 
sembling our  White  pelican.  Some  ten  or  a  dozen  other  kinds 
are  found  in  various  parts  of  the  wrorld.  I  have  described  the 
bones  of  a  fossil  pelican  from  Oregon,  and  similar  remains  have 
been  found  in  England.  P.  onocrotalus  was  well  known  to  the  an- 
cients, and  was  frequently  figured  on  their  monuments. 

Some  very  interesting  birds  of  the  suborder  ^tenanopodes  are 
the  relatives  of  our  pelicans  in  the  avifauna  of  this  country. 
There  are  in  the  first  place  the  two  species  of  Tropic  birds  of  the 
genus  Pl}actlion\  then  there  are  six  species  of  gannets  (Sula)  ; 
the  curious  Snake  bird,  also  known  as  the  Darter  or  Anhinga 
(AnJiinga)  ;  at  least  eleven  different  kinds  of  cormorants  (Plia- 
lacrocorov)  :  and  finally  the  famous  Man-o'-War  bird  (Frcyata 


According  to  Newton,  the  Tropic  birds  have  been  so  called  by 
"  sailors  from  early  times,  because,  as  Dampier  (Toy.  i,  p.  53), 
among  others,  testifies,  it  is  "  never  seen  far  without  either  Trop- 
ick,"  and  hence,  indulging  a  pretty  fancy,  Linnaeus  bestowed 
upon  it  the  generic  term,  continued  by  modern  writers,  of  Phaeton, 
in  allusion  to  its  attempt  to  follow  the  path  of  the  sun.  There 
are  certainly  three  well-marked  species  of  this  genus,  but  their 
respective  geographical  ranges  have  not  yet  been  definitely  laid 
down.  All  of  them  can  be  easily  known  by  their  totipalmate 
condition,  in  which  the  four  toes  of  each  foot  are  united  by  a  web, 
and  by  the  great  length  of  the  two  middle  tail-quills,  which  pro- 
ject beyond  the  rest,  so  as  to  have  gained  for  the  birds  the  names 
of  "Rabijunco,"  "Paille-en-queue,"  and  "Pijlstaart,"  among  mar- 
iners of  different  nations.  These  birds  fly  to  a  great  distance 
from  land  and  seem  to  be  attracted  by  ships,  frequently  hovering 
round  or  even  settling  on  a  mast-head. 

"  The  Yellow-billed  Tropic-bird,  P.  flavirostris  or  candiflus,  ap- 
pears to  have  habitually  the  most  northerly,  as  well,  perhaps,  as 
the  widest  range,  visiting  Bermuda  yearly  to  breed  there,  but 
also  occurring  numerously  in  the  southern  Atlantic,  the  Indian 
and  a  great  part  of  the  Pacific  Ocean,  In  some  islands  of  all 


OF    THE    UNITED    STATES  199 

these  three  it  breeds,  sometimes  on  trees,  which  the  other  species 
are  not  known  to  do.  However,  like  the  rest  of  its  congeners,  it 
lays  but  a  single  egg,  and  this  is  of  a  pinkish-white,  mottled, 
spotted,  and  smeared  with  brownish-purple,  often  so  closely  as  to 
conceal  the  ground-color.  This  is  the  smallest  of  the  group,  and 
hardly  exceeds  in  size  a  large  pigeon;  but  the  spread  of  its  wings 
and  its  long  tail  make  it  appear  more  bulky  than  it  reaTlylsr  Ex- 
cept some  black  markings  on  the  face  (common  to  all  the  species 
known),  a  large  black  patch  partly  covering  the  scapulars  and 
wing-coverts,  and  the  black  shafts  of  its  elongated  rectrices,  its 
general  color  is  white,  glossy  as  satin,  and  often  tinged  with 
roseate.  Its  yellow  bill  readily  distinguishes  it  from  its  larger 
congener  P.  aefhereus,  but  that  has  nearly  all  the  upper  surface  of 
the  body  and  wings  closely  barred  with  black,  while  the  shafts 
of  its  elongated  rectrices  are  white.  This  species  has  a  range  al- 
most equally  wide  as  the  last;  but  it  does  not  seem  to  occur  in 
the  western  part  of  the  Indian  Ocean.  The  third  and  largest 
species,  the  Ked-tailed  Tropic-bird,  P.  mibricanda  or  pJicenicurm, 
not  only  has  a  red  bill,  but  the  elongated  and  very  attenuated 
rectrices  are  of  a  bright  crimson-red,  and  when  adult  the  whole 
body  shows  a  deep  roseate  tinge.  The  young  are  beautifully 
barred  above  with  black  arrow-headed  markings.  This  species 
has  not  been  known  to  occur  in  the  Atlantic,  but  is  perhaps  the 
most  numerous  in  the  Indian  and  Pacific  Oceans,  in  which  last 
great  value  used  to  be  attached  to  its  tail-feathers  to  be  worked 
into  ornaments."  (Diet.  Birds;  Pt.  IV,  pp.  989-991.) 

Of  all  our  various  species  of  Gannets,  the  one  probably  widest 
known  is  the  common  Gannet,  or,  as  it  is  often  called,  the  Solan 
Goose,  the  Sula  bassana  of  science.  This  large  water -fowl  occurs 
upon  the  coasts  of  the  north  Atlantic,  migrating  to  the  south- 
ward as  far  south  as  the  Gulf  of  Mexico  in  the  winter  time. 
Adult  Gannets  are  as  large  as  a  small  goose,  having,  however, 
the  wings  and  the  tail  considerably  longer.  At  three  years  of 
age  they  gain  their  full  plumage,  which  is  almost  wholly  white, 
the  head  and  neck  alone  being  shaded  with  a  buffy  color,  while 
the  large  feathers  of  the  wings  are  black.  Around  the  eyes  and 
on  the  throat  the  skin-tracts  are  bare  and  tinted  a  deep  blue. 
Young  birds  of  the  first  year  are  dark  brown,  spotted  with  white, 
and  the  nestlings,  when  first  hatched,  are  nude  and  blind,  but 
they  soon  gain  a  plumage  of  thick,  white  down,  quite  equal  to 
that  of  the  swan,  and  much  sought  after  by  the  manufacturers 


200  CHAPTERS    ON    THE    NATURAL    HISTORY 

of  muffs  and  tippets.  This  Gannet  builds  a  shallow  nest  of  sea- 
weed, placed  upon  the  ground,  and  in  it  lays  its  single  white  egg, 
that  is  not  unlike  the  egg  of  some  of  the  Cormorants,  having  the 
same  chalky  covering  overlaying  the  shell.  Fishes  that  go  in 
great  shoals  near  the  surface  are  followed  by  these  birds,  and 
through  this  circumstance  fishermen  often  detect  the  presence  of 
the  former,  at  considerable  distances.  Gannets  are  but  indiffer- 
ent swimmers  and  divers,  while,  on  the  other  hand,  their  "  prey 
is  almost  invariably  captured  by  plunging  upon  it  from  a  height. 
and  a  company  of  Gannets  fishing  presents  a  curious  and  inter- 
esting spectacle.  Flying  in  single  file,  each  bird,  when  it  comes 
over  the  shoal,  closes  its  wings  and  dashes  perpendicularly,  and 
with  a  velocity  that  must  be  seen  to  be  appreciated,  into  the 
waves,  whence  it  emerges  after  a  few  seconds,  and,  shaking  the 
water  from  its  feathers,  mounts  in  a  wide  curve,  orderly  taking 
its  place  in  the  rear  of  the  string,  to  repeat  its  headlong  plunge 
so  soon  as  it  again  finds  itself  above  its  prey."  (Newton.) 

These  birds  are  not  used  for  food,  but  are  simply  captured  for 
their  feathers  alone.  This  is  sometimes  effected  by  tying  a  her- 
ring on  a  shingle  and  towing  it  behind  a  row-boat.  The  Gannet 
plunges  down  upon  the  bait,  and  it  either  kills  itself  by  the  shock 
of  the  blow  received,  or  else  thrusts  its  beak  clean  through  the 
floating  shingle,  and  is  thus  easily  taken  by  being  drawrn  up  to 
the  boat  by  the  tow-string.  At  many  of  their  former  places  of 
resort  the  Gannets  are  rapidly  decreasing  in  numbers,  where  for- 
merly they  wrere  present  in  immense  legions.  While  in  Florida 
and  on  the  Bahama  Banks,  I  frequently  collected  specimens  of 
the  blue-faced  gannet,  or  "  Booby,"  as  it  is  otherwise  known 
(tfitla  ci/anops),  and  have  also  had  in  my  possession  living  speci- 
mens of  the  Blue-footed  booby  and  Brewster's  booby  (8.  yossi  and 
&.  In-ctrstcri ) .  They  w^ere  taken  for  me  on  the  coasts  of  Lower 
California,  and  gave  me  the  opportunity  of  thoroughly  working 
out  their  osteology. 

Even  a  more  interesting  form  than  any  of  the  gannets  is  the 
species  of  Snake  bird  we  have  in  this  country,  occurring,  as  il 
does,  in  the  inland  waters  of  the  southern  States,  especially  those 
of  Florida.  Specimens,  however,  have  been  taken  as  far  north 
as  the  Carolinas,  the  mouth  of  the  Ohio  River,  and  southern 
Kansas. 

Approaching  in  some  respects  some  of  the  smaller  species  of 
cormorants,  this  bird  is  nevertheless  easily  distinguished  from 


OF    THE    UNITED    STATES  201 

them,  in  so  far  as  external  appearances  go,  by  its  long  and  ex- 
tremely slender  neck  and  beak;  its  trimmer  body,  and  more  elon- 
gated tail.  Either  the  male  or  female  is  a  bird  of  beautiful  plu- 
mage, particularly  during  the  breeding  season,  as  different  as 
they  are  in  this  respect.  A  male  at  this  time  is  largely  clothed 
in  black  feathers,  exhibiting  a  greenish  gloss.  Its  eyes  are 
bright  crimson,  while  the  naked  skin  around  them  is  green  ,~and 
of  the  throat,  orange.  A  white  stripe  runs  down  either  side  of 
the  neck,  showing  lilac  reflections.  White  markings  occur  upon 
the  long  feathers  of  the  shoulders  and  the  lesser  coverts  of  the 
wings.  The  wings  and  tail  are  black,  the  latter  being  tipped 
with  reddish  brown.  In  the  female  the  head,  neck,  and  pectorial 
region  is  of  a  buffy  color,  a  reddish  tinted  band  limiting  the  lat- 
ter below.  These  birds  have  the  habit  of  perching  upon  the  out- 
standing and  dead  limbs  of  trees  overhanging  the  pools  of  their 
habitat.  From  these  points  of  observance  they  watch  for  their 
finny  prey  in  the  waters  beneath,  and  by  rapidly  darting  down 
upon  it,  plunging  beneath  the  surface,  secure  the  same  with  their 
dagger-like  beaks.  Upon  coming  into  view  again,  nothing  is 
seen  save  the  snake-like  upper  parts  of  the  Anhinga,  stealthily 
making  off  with  its  capture.  Hence  the  popular  name  of  the 
species.  Under  water,  its  powers  of  swimming  are  simply  un- 
rivaled, being  able  to  capture  a  fish,  however  agile  the  latter  may 
be,  and  in  these  subaqueous  excursions  it  exhibits  the  most  re- 
markable maneuvers,  spreading  its  tail  and  shooting  about  in  a 
manner  most  extraordinary.  None  of  the  smaller  fishes  upon 
which  it  feeds  can  escape  the  attacks  of  this  consummate  fisher- 
man. It  exhibits  even  these  qualities  in  captivity,  "  taking — 
apparently  without  effort — fish  after  fish,"  as  Newton  remarks, 
"  that  may  be  introduced  into  its  tank,  however  rapidly  they  may 
swim  and  twist,  and  only  returning  to  its  perch  when  its  vora- 
cious appetite  is  for  the  moment  appeased  or  its  supply  of  food 
temporarily  exhausted." 

These  birds  lay  four  eggs  in  a  large,  bulky  nest,  placed  in  a 
tree,  and  usually  overhanging  the  water. 

Cormorants  of  one  species  or  another  are  found  upon  all  the 
coasts  of  the  United  States,  her  offlying  islands,  and  on  the  great 
lakes  and  largest  rivers.  In  many  of  these  places  they  are  like- 
wise known  as  Shags,  which  by  many  people  they  are  popularly 
called.  They,  as  in  the  case  of  Anhinga,  are  also  most  voracious 
fishermen,  and  are,  too,  extremely  expert  swimmers  beneath  the 


202  CHAPTERS    ON    THE    NATURAL    HISTORY 

surface  of  the  water.  In  former  times  fishing  with  cormorants 
was  a  favorite  pastime  in  England,  and  in  China  is  still  followed 
in  a  manner  that  it  there  has  been,  in  that  country,  for  many  gen- 
erations. The  birds  are  kept  in  confinement  or  are  so  far  domesti- 
cated as  not  to  require  restraint  of  any  kind.  They  are  seen 
perched  upon  the  prows  of  the  river-boats,  and  when  in  use  their 
masters  buckle  a  ring  around  the  neck  of  the  bird  in  order  to  pre- 
vent deglutition,  then  the  fishes  it  captures  are  taken  away  from 
it  upon  its  coming  up  to  the  boat.  The  signal  for  the  bird  to  com- 
mence is  announced  by  the  boatman  striking  the  water  with  his 
oar.  Fish  after  fish  is  taken  until  the  master  is  satisfied,  where- 
upon the  cervical  ring  is  removed  and  the  birds  are  allowed  to 
satisfy  their  owyn  demands.  In  nature  they  frequently  gorge 
themselves  to  the  very  verge  of  gluttonous  inebriety;  then  repair- 
ing to  the  crags  of  rarely  frequented  rocks  and  cliffs,  dose  away, 
safe  from  the  disturbance  of  their  enemies,  until  digestion  over, 
they  once  more  seek  the  fishing-grounds. 

Thirty  or  forty  species  of  cormorants  are  found  in  various 
parts  of  the  world,  but  although  varying  not  a  little  in  size,  plu- 
mage, and  to  a  lesser  degree  in  structure,  their  habits  are  much 
the  same  wherever  we  find  them  in  nature.  Many  excellent  ac- 
counts have  been  published  in  regard  to  them,  and  considerable 
attention  been  given  to  their  anatomy. 

The  Men-o'-War  birds  I  have  seen  upon  a  great  many  occasions 
in  the  harbors  of  Havana,  Matanzas,  and  Cardenas,  upon  the 
north  coast  of  Cuba,  as  well  as  at  points  around  the  entire  coast 
line  of  the  Gulf  of  Mexico.  In  the  matter  of  oceanic,  open-air 
flight  they  are  hardly  without  a  rival.  On  the  ground  they  are 
as  clumsy  as  a  Kingfisher,  and  for  much  the  same  reason,  as  their 
feet  and  legs  are  aborted  to  an  extraordinary  degree.  Tn  body, 
too.  speaking  comparatively,  they  are  likewise  small,  but  their 
immense  expanse  of  wing  and  long,  forked  tails  give  them  pecu- 
liar powers  of  buoyancy  in  the  air.  From  tip  to  tip  of  wing  they 
have  an  expanse  equal  to  that  of  a  swan,  but  with  a  trunk  no 
bigger  than  that  of  a  large  jaeger.  Often  I  have  seen  them  sail- 
ing, like  so  many  turkey  buzzards,  high  above  the  surface  of  the 
ocean,  and  this  usually  after  feeding.  When  the  latter  time  ar- 
rives, however,  their  habits  are  entirely  different,  for  it  is  then 
that  the  Frigate-birds  displav  their  very  tyrannical  dispositions, 
and  as  in  the  case  of  the  White-headed  eagle,  they  are  the  rob- 
bers of  all  the  boobies  and  gulls  in  the  neighborhood,  as  is  the 


OF    THE    UNITED    STATES  203 

former  the  despoiler  of  the  Osprey.  They  breed  in  communities, 
as  a  rule,  upon  high  trees  near  the  water.  In  their  big,  shift- 
lessly constructed  nests  each  bird  deposits  her  single  white  egg, 
it  having  a  chalky  shell,  not  at  all  unlike  that  of  a  cormorant's. 
Nestling  birds  have  a  plumage  of  dense  white  dowrn,  as  in  the 
case  of  vultures  (Cathartes),  and  the  feathers  of  the  adult  come 
out  .through  this  coat  as  the  individual  matures.  Adult  males 
are  blackish  brown  above,  having  a  metallic  sheen  to  it;  the  fe- 
males showing  white  beneath,  with  feet  of  pink.  But  the  males 
have  black  feet  and  a  scarlet  gular  pouch,  the  last  being  easily 
observable  while  the  birds  are  upon  the  wing. 


CHAPTER  XV. 

MEADOW-LARKS   AND   PARTRIDGES. 

(Genus  Sturnella:  Perdicinw.) 

E  have  in  this  country,  as  elsewhere,  quite  an  extensive 
list  of  birds  that,  although  they  are  not  considered  by 
true  sportsmen  to  be  typical  game  birds,  yet  they  are 
very  generally  shot  by  gunners  not  only  for  table  use, 
but  for  sale  in  the  game  markets  where  they  are  frequently  dis- 
played. Some  of  these  are  esteemed  by  many  to  be  very  excel- 
lent eating,  and  the  truth  of  the  matter  is,  it  is  not  easy  to  draw 
a  hard  and  fast  line  between  what  a  stickler  among  sportsmen 
and  an  all-round  gunner  would  call  game. 

In  my  time  I  have  met  with  people  who  were  very  fond  of 
nighthawks  (Chordeiles),  and  would  spend  a  whole  evening  in 
shooting  a  sufficient  number  of  these  caprimulgine  birds  for  their 
table;  while  upon  the  other  hand,  most  surely  wild  pigeons, 
turtle  doves,  the  smaller  plovers,  and  sandpipers  come  far  nearer 
to  being  true  game.  It  is  in  this  latter  list  that  the  Meadow-lark 
belongs,  rather  than  with  other  pseudo-game  birds,  as  robins, 
flickers,  blackbirds,  and  coots. 

In  the  present  chapter  it  is  my  intention  to  write  of  the  natural 
history  of  the  meadow-larks,  and  while  upon  this  subject  of  game 
birds  it  may  be  said  that  they  offer  not  a  few  characters  and  hab- 
its that  almost  entitle  them  to  a  place  upon  the  list  with  them. 
First  of  all,  if  the  birds  be  not  too  old,  they  are  by  no  means  an 
indifferent  fowl  upon  the  table,  and  in  truth  two-third  grown 
ones  are  excellent  eating,  having  the  qualities  of  sufficient  size 
and  tender  flesh.  During  the  autumn  months,  and  in  those 
fields  where  the  meadow-grass  is  not  too  meager  and  short,  these 
birds  will  occasionally  stand  for  a  dog,  but  they  cannot  invari- 
ably be  relied  upon  for  this,  and  will  most  often  run  through  the 
verdure  ahead  of  the.  animal,  to  arise  at  will  further  off.  When 
once  in  the  air,  however,  and  within  range,  they  offer  tempting 
shots  and  not  always  easy  targets.  Sometimes  in  flight  they  are 
quite  erratic  enough  to  suit  the  tastes  of  the  most  fastidious  of 
sportsmen;  often-this  flight  is  more  than  swift,  while  usually,  as 
noted  by  AVilson,  it  is  "  in  the  manner  of  the  Grouse  and  Par- 


OF    THE    UNITED    STATES  205 

tridge,  laborious  and  steady,  sailing,  and  renewing  the  rapid  ac- 
tion of  the  wings  alternately." 

Meadow-larks,  too,  sometimes  congregate  in  large,  loose  flocks, 
so  the  sport  of  hunting  them,  where  they  are  plenty,  does  not 
flag,  and  a  good  bag  can  be  made  in  a  few  hours.  Then  the  colora- 
tion of  the  upper  parts"  of  the  bird  is  decidedly  gamy,  although 
the  rich  yellow  of  the  under  parts  rather  inclines  the  orthodox 
sportsman  to  look  at  it  askant,  and  with  an  expression  of  con- 
tempt often  pronounce  it  to  be  nothing  more  than  a  passerine 
bird,  belonging  to  the  group  of  song  birds  known  as  the  oscines, 
and  most  likely  related  to  the  orioles,  starlings,  and  blackbirds, 
all  of  which  is  true  enough,  to  be  sure. 

Notwithstanding  this,  young  America  will  nevertheless,  as 
heretofore,  still  continue  to  hunt  the  Old  Field  Lark,  as  it  is 
termed  in  so  many  sections  of  the  country,  and  in  doing  so,  gain 
the  first  necessary  lessons  of  shooting  on  the  fly.  For  one,  I 
know  my  experience  with  them  as  far  back  as  1863,  in  the  salt 
marshes  of  Long  Island  Sound,  taught  me  the  tricks  of  the  art, 
and  it  was  through  that  practice  that  I  sooner  gained  the  neces- 
sary control  of  eye  and  hand  that  permitted  me  to  drop  in  succes- 
sion ten  woodcock  in  the  cover,  and  that,  too,  when  the  birds 
were  stimulated  with  the  crisp  air  of  an  October  morning,  and 
flew  as  though  they  had  been  shot  out  of  a  catapult. 

The  plumage  and  appearance  of  our  Meadow-lark  is  so  well 
known  to  all  of  those  who  are  familiar  with  our  common  birds, 
that  a  detailed  description  would  obviously  be  superfluous,  espe- 
cially as  such  a  description  would  probably  not  be  read  or  used 
by  those  who  take  no  interest  in  matters  of  this  kind,  a  charge 
that  I  am  quite  sure  cannot  be  brought  to  the  door  of  any  reader 
of  the  present  work.  For  many  years  the  bird  has  been  known 
to  science  as  Sturnella  magna,  the  first  or  generic  name  being  the 
Latin  diminutive  of  the  word  sturnus,  a  starling,  and  the  second, 
or  specific  name,  likewise  from  the  Latin,  being  derived  from 
wagnus,  large  or  great;  a  most  incongruous  combination,  indicat- 
ing as  it  does  a  little  big  starling.  There  are  two  sub-species  in 
the  genus — namely,  the  Mexican  meadow-lark  (8.  m.  mexicana), 
and  the  Western  meadow-lark  (8.  m.  neglecta),  the  first  named 
being  found  from  the  lower  Rio  Grande  valley  .to  Panama,  and 
the  second  in  western  United  States  southward  through  certain 
parts  of  Mexico. 

In  southern  America  there  is  also  another  representative  of 


206  CHAPTERS    ON    THE    NATURAL    HISTORY 

this  genus,  small  in  size,  generally  darker  above,  but  what  is 
most  striking,  it  has  a  red  breast  and  throat  instead  of  a  brilliant 
yellow,  as  in  iS.  muyim.  Mr.  Kidgway,  who  is  probably  the  best 
authority  we  have  upon  birds  among  us,  says  that  the  Mexican 
Meadow-lark  is  smaller  than  our  eastern  form,  with  "  smaller 
bill,  but  larger  feet."  The  Western  meadowr-lark  is  even  more 
conspicuously  distinguished,  being  paler  and  grayer  above,  with 
the  black  markings  not  nearly  so  pronounced.  This  latter  bird 
I  have  shot  in  a  great  many  western  localities,  and  have  noticed 
especially  the  marked  difference  in  its  note  as  compared  with  our 
eastern  form  (8.  magna).  Some  of  the  individuals  I  shot  in 
New  Mexico  were  markedly  pale  above  and  light  beneath,  and  as 
to  a  female  of  this  sub-species,  one  could  never  confound  it  with 
our  bird  here  in  the  Atlantic  States.  In  some  portions  of  the 
Mississippi  valley  the  ranges  of  the  two  forms  often  widely  over- 
lap, and  in  consequence  hybrids  are  occasionally  to  be  found;  but 
these  facts  only  likewise  tend  to  prove  the  distinctness  of  8. 
magna  and  $.  m.  neglecta,  the  latter  having  gained  its  sub-specinc 
name  for  having  been  so  long  overlooked  by  ornithologists. 

Our  eastern  Meadow-lark  can  be  considered  to  be  but  partially 
migratory,  and  I  have  found  not  a  few  of  them  in  the  winter  time 
in  Central  New  York,  and  Wilson  remarks,  "  It  is  probable  that, 
in  the  more  rigorous  regions  of  the  north  they  may  be  birds  of 
passage,  as  they  are  partially  so  here;  though  I  have  seen  them 
among  the  meadows  of  New  Jersey  and  those  that  border  the 
rivers  Delaware  and  Schuylkill,  in  all  seasons,  even  when  the 
ground  was  deeply  covered  with  snow."  Wilson,  by  the  way, 
also  adds  that  in  his  day  throughout  the  season  these  birds  were 
exposed  for  sale  in  the  Philadelphia  markets,  being  considered 
for  the  table  but  little  inferior  to  quail. 

When  Meadow-larks  do  not  alight  upon  the  ground  they  most 
frequently  select  the  very  top  of  some  tree  or  shrub  or  end  of 
projecting  fence  rail  in  a  fence,  and  the  like,  and  from  such 
points  as  these  it  is  that  he  pours  forth  his  prolonged  notes,  so 
famous  for  their  clarity,  tenderness,  and  sweet  tone.  They  also, 
at  times,  give  vent  to  a  rattling  clatter  of  note  so  different 
from  the  other,  that  one  would  hardly  believe  it  was  uttered  by 
the  same  bird.  It  is  said  that  the  female  does  this  more  often 
than  the  male  bird. 

Among  the  rice  fields  of  the  south,  during  the  winter,  those 
birds  arc  some!  lines  very  abundant,  coming  often  close  to  the 


OF    THE    UNITED    STATES  209 

dwelling  houses  and  outbuildings  upon  the  plantation,  exhibiting 
but  little  fear  of  man;  while  in  the  north  during  the  same  season 
I  have  many  times  noticed  three  or  four  of  them  in  the  middle 
of  a  country  road  where  the  snow  has  disappeared  and  left  a 
small  patch  of  ground  bare.  Here  they  would  be  engaged  in 
picking  the  grain  from  the  droppings  of  horses  that  had  passed, 
and  were  often  in  company  with  Juncos  and  Snow  buntings. 
Practically  it  may  be  said  that  the  Meadow-lark  rarely  or  never 
does  any  serious  injury  to  our  grain  fields,  as  he  is  more  partial 
during  all  the  warmer  parts  of  the  year  to  a  varied  list  of  insects 
upon  which  he  feeds,  as  well  as  the  seeds  of  certain  grasses  and 
other  plants. 

Just  at  this  writing  I  do  not  happen  to  remember  of  ever  hav- 
ing seen  a  Meadow-lark  very  far  within  the  boundary  line  of 
heavy  timber,  although  one  may  occasionally  be  met  with  in  a 
limited  open  space  more  or  less  closely  surrounded  with  trees. 
Into  such  places  they  alight  sometimes  in  order  to  capture  or 
feed  upon  the  insects  that  have  perchance  congregated  there. 

When  mating  time  arrives,  as  spring  comes  round,  the  old 
male  birds  of  this  species  exhibit  a  very  considerable  amount  of 
excitement,  and  the  study  of  their  quaint  courtship  is  replete 
with  interest.  Two  males  will  sometimes  chase  a  female,  only 
apparently  reluctant,  all  about  some  old  pasture  field,  singing  to 
her  at  the  top  of  their  voices;  while  in  flight  their  wings,  by  the 
tremulousness  of  their  motion,  indicate  the  passion  so  keenly 
felt  by  their  owners. 

Should  the  semi-blind  trio  become  exhausted  by  these  efforts, 
all  may  come  to  alight  upon  some  convenient  fence-rail,  where, 
with  a  fervent  consort  upon  either  side  of  her,  the  coveted  fe- 
male is  treated  to  a  united  shower  of  notes,  accompanied  by  a 
wing-flipping  and  a  tail-spreading,  such  as  no  hen  in  all  the 
genus  could  resist,  whereupon  she  is  obliged  to  make  her  choice 
quickly,  and  with  her  chosen  one  flies  away. 

Meadow-larks  build  their  nests  upon  the  ground,  usually  some- 
what below  the  surface,  where  it  is  overgrown  by  some  tussock 
of  grass,  a  bramble-briar,  or  other  like  protection.  This  chosen 
and  natural  excavation  is  lined  neatly  with  fine  grasses,  the 
same  also  being  used  to  form  a  partial  overarching  dome,  the 
latter  being  helped  out  by  the  growing  grass  or  leaves  above  the 
spot.  From  four  to  seven  eggs  are  laid  during  the  early  part  of 
June,  the  young  hatching  out  in  about  fifteen  days  thereafter. 


210  CHAPTERS    ON    THE    NATURAL    HISTORY 

South  of  Maryland  they  probably  breed  earlier,  about  the  middle 
of  May,  and  in  those  regions  two  broods  may  be  the  rule.  Both 
sexes  take  part  in  incubation,  the  female  being  the  closest  sit- 
ter, however,  while  the  male  is  easily  alarmed,  thus  frequently 
betraying  the  location  of  the  nest.  Major  Bendire  says  the 
"  eggs  of  the  Meadow-lark  vary  considerably  both  in  shape  and 
size;  the  majority  are  ovate,  while  others  are  short  elliptical, 
and  elongate  ovate.  The  shell  is  strong,  closely  granulated,  and 
moderately  glossy.  The  ground  color  is  usually  pure  white;  this 
is  occasionally  covered  with  a  pale  pinkish  suffusion,  and  is 
very  rarely  pale  greenish  white.  The  eggs  are  more  or  less  pro- 
fusely spotted,  blotched,  and  speckled  over  the  entire  surface 
with  different  shades  of  brown,  ferruginous,  pale  heliotrope, 
purple,  and  lavender;  these  markings  generally  predominate 
about  the  larger  end  of  the  egg,  and  are  rarely  heavy  enough  to 
hide  the  ground  color. 

"  In  some  sets  the  markings  consist  mainly  of  a  profusion  of 
fine  dots ;  in  others  the  spots  are  well  rounded  and  fewer  in  num- 
ber; and  again  they  occur  in  the  shape  of  irregular  and  coarse 
blotches,  mixed  with  finer  specks  and  dots;  in  fact,  there  is  an 
endless  variation  in  the  style  of  markings." 

The  material  described  by  Major  Bendire  has  been  examined 
by  the  present  writer  at  the  United  States  National  Museum, 
and  it  is  remarkable  to  observe  the  great  variety  of  patterns  of 
the  eggs  of  this  species.  The  same  remark  applies  to  the  eggs  of 
the  western  Meadow-lark,  they  averaging  but  slightly  smaller 
than  those  of  the  eastern  bird. 

On  the  18th  of  June,  1897,  my  little  daughter,  Sarah  A.  Shu- 
feldt,  discovered  within  a  short  distance  of  my  home  at  Takoma, 
D.  C.,  a  nest  of  the  Meadow-lark  that  contained  but  two  young, 
and  these  would  have  been  ready  to  shift  for  themselves  in  a  few 
days.  My  son  dug  up  the  entire  sod  that  supported  this  nest, 
bringing  the  whole,  young  and  all,  to  my  study,  in  as  perfect  a 
condition  as  possible,  and  not  in  the  least  disturbed.  By  me  it 
was  taken  out  of  doors,  and  everything  being  favorable,  I  suc- 
ceeded in  obtaining  a  good  photographic  picture  of  a  typical  nest 
of  this  well-known  species,  and  a  copy  of  this  is  here  reproduced 
in  order  to  show  how  the  young  Meadow-larks  appear  within  it. 

The  original  of  this  picture  was  taken  exactly  natural  size, 
and  was  only  reduced  in  the  reproduction. 

Either  one  of  these  nestlings  has  the  coloration  of  the  upper 


OF    THE    UNITED    STATES  213 

parts  a  good  deal  as  we  find  it  to  be  in  the  adult,  but  the  lower 
parts  are  of  a  dull,  brownish  yellow,  while  the  pectoral  crescent 
is  simply  indicated  by  brown  dashes  upon  the  central  part  of 
each  feather,  the  margins  having  the  color  of  the  breast  below. 
Tufts  of  down  occur  in  several  places  upon  the  head  (behind  the 
eyes)  and  in  the  wings;  but  what  constitutes  the  most  striking 
feature  in  one  of  these  speciments  is  the  great  length  of  the  legs 
and  the  very  big  feet.  Young  Meadow-larks  leave  the  nest  before 
they  are  able  to  fly,  but  so  cute  are  they  about  hiding  close  that 
it  is  very  rare  to  find  one  at  this  time ;  the  coloration  of  the  back 
likewise  being  greatly  in  their  favor.  The  pair  I  refer  to  above 
were  very  clumsy  and  awkward,  but  nevertheless  could  squat 
and  hide  with  all  the  skill  of  a  young  kildeer. 

Since  obtaining  the  above  referred-to  picture,  my  son  has  cap- 
tured alive  an  adult  male  Meadow-lark,  and  I  succeeded  also  in 
making  a  photograph  of  this  specimen,  one  of  the  most  difficult 
pieces  of  photography  in  which  I  was  ever  successful.  The  result 
is  shown  in  Figure  55. 

Sometimes  the  Cowbird  lays  its  egg  in  the  nest  of  this  spe- 
cies, and  Bendire  cites  a  case  where  a  second  nest  was  built  over 
the  one  containing  the  parasitic  egg.  Besides  being  shot  by  man, 
destroyed  by  numerous  kinds  of  vermin,  as  weasels  and  the  like, 
and  by  hawks;  many  Meadow-larks  are  never  hatched  out 
in  those  places  where  mowing  machines  are  in  constant  use.  Thus 
it  is  that  in  such  regions  the  bird  is  becoming  annually  more  rare, 
and  this  is  unfortunate,  in  so  far  as  man  is  concerned,  for  Stur- 
nella  is  the  best  bird  friend  that  the  farmer  has,  and  kills  thou- 
sands of  noxious  insects  every  season. 

Some  of  the  habits  of  the  other  species  and  sub-species  of  the 
birds  of  this  genius  are  extremely  interesting,  but  the  limita- 
tions of  space  forbid  my  touching  upon  these  in  the  present  chap- 
ter. The  Meadow-lark  is  not  found  in  the  Old  World,  and,  in  fact, 
no  bird  that  may  be  said  to  be  very  closely  akin  to  it. 

As  has  been  said  above,  our  Partridges  belong  to  the  group 
including  the  typical  game-birds. 

When  I  speak  of  the  American  partridges,  I  mean,  in  the  pres- 
ent instance,  the  representatives  of  the  sub-family  Perdicince  that 
legitimately  belong  to  the  avifauna  of  the  United  States.  It  will 
naturally  include,  however,  all  the  partridges  that  occur  north  of 
the  United  States  and  Mexican  boundary,  on  the  North  Ameri- 
can continent;  and  these,  as  recognized  in  the  second  and  last 


214  CHAPTERS    ON    THE    NATURAL    HISTORY 

edition  of  the  A.  O.  U.  Check  List  of  North  American  Birds, 
number  seven  species  and  six  sub-species.  Either  in  describing 
or  arranging  these  birds,  we  usually  commence  with  those  par- 
tridges commonly  known  among  us  as  the  Bob-white.  They  con- 
stitute the  genus  Colinus,  and  lead  off  with  our  favorite  eastern 
Bob-white,  a  bird  which,  broadly  speaking,  is  called  Quail  in  the 
north,  and  Partridge  throughout  the  southern  districts.  Science 
knows  the  form  simply  as  Colinus  virginianus,  and  its  geographi- 
cal distribution  has  been  given  in  the  Check  List  as  "  eastern 
United  States  and  southern  Ontario,  from  southern  Maine  to  the 
South  Atlantic  and  Gulf  States;  west  to  central  South  Dakota, 
Nebraska,  Kansas,  Oklahoma,  and  eastern  Texas.  Of  late  years 
has  gradually  extended  its  range  westward  along  lines  of  rail- 
road and  settlements;  also  introduced  at  various  points  in  Colo- 
rado, New  Mexico,  Utah,  Idaho,  California,  Oregon,  and  Wash- 
ington. Breeds  throughout  its  range."  This  partridge  is  re- 
placed in  Florida  by  the  Florida  Bob- white  (C.  v.  floridanus),  and 
in  "  southern  and  western  Texas,  south  to  central  Tamaulipas 
and  southern  Nuevo  Leon,  Mexico,"  and  "  western  Mexico  and 
Guadalajara,"  by  the  Texan  Bob-white.  The  race  of  Bob-white 
that  is  restricted  to  the  Floridan  peninsula  is  both  darker  and 
smaller  than  the  species  of  the  north  and  east,  while,  according 
to  Eidgway,  in  the  Texan  Bob-white  the  upper  parts  are  some- 
what of  a  rusty  color  (except  anteriorly),  "  an  olive-grayish  tint 
prevailing,  the  scapulars,  tertials,  and  lower  back  usually  with- 
out conspicuous  black  blotches,  and  the  general  surface  usually 
barred  with  lighter;  black  markings  of  lower  parts  usually 
broad  and  nearly  transverse,  as  in  C.  v.  floridanus.  Adult  male 
usually  with  a  very  distinct  band  of  uniform  pale  cinnamon 
across  chest,  immediately  beneath  the  black  collar."  From  So- 
nora  to  southern  Arizona,  we  met  with  the  Masked  Bob-wrhite 
(Colinus  ridgwayi),  which  was  first  discovered  by  Mr.  Herbert 
Brown,  of  Tucson,  Arizona,  and  described  by  Mr.  William  Brew- 
ster.  It  is  a  beautiful  species,  and  a  very  different  looking  bird 
as  compared  with  our  eastern  Bob-wrhite.  There  is  an  excellent 
account  of  its  habits  and  range  in  Bendire's  grand  work  on  the 
"  Life  Histories  of  North  American  Birds,"  and,  to  the  best  of 
my  recollection,  it  was  figured  in  colors  and  published  by  Dr. 
Allen  several  years  ago  in  the  reports  of  the  American  Museum 
of  Natural  History.  The  genus  Colinus,  then,  is  made  to  contain 
fwo  species  and  two  subspecies  of  Partridges,  commonly  known 


OF    THE    UNITED    STATES  215 

as  Bob-white;  and  we  next  pass  to  the  genus  Oreortyx.  These  are 
elegant  Partridges  of  great  beauty  of  plumage,  there  being  one 
species  of  them  and  two  subspecies,  all  confined  to  the  western 
part  of  the  United  States.  The  type  of  the  genus  is  the  moun- 
tain Partridge  (0.  pictus),  wrhich  was  described  by  Douglass  in 
the  Transactions  of  the  Linnean  Society  in  1829.  As  far  as  now 
known,  its  present  geographical  distribution  includes  ~Eh(T "  Pa- 
cific coast  region,  from  San  Francisco  Bay  north  to  Washing- 
ton." It  has  also  been  introduced  on  Vancouver  Island. 

A  paler  race  of  these  birds,  distinguished  as  the  Plumed  Par- 
tridge (O.pictus  plumiferus),  occurs  upon  both  slopes  of  the  Sierra 
Nevada  Mountains,  and  eastward  to  the  Panamint  range,  thence 
to  Mount  Magruder  in  Nevada;  it  is  also  found  south  in  the  coast 
ranges  from  San  Francisco  Bay  to  Lower  California.  (Campos.) 
They  are  wonderfully  handsome  birds,  more  so,  I  think,  than  the 
remaining  subspecies  of  this  genus;  namely,  the  San  Pedro  Par- 
tridge (O.p.confinus),  which,  although  much  like  its  plumed  rela- 
tive, has  a  somewhat  thicker  bill,  and  is  grayer  above.  So  far 
as  at  present  known,  it  is  a  race  confined  to  the  San  Pedro  Moun- 
tains of  Lower  California,  where  it  was  discovered  by  A.  W.  An- 
thony, and  described  by  him  in  1889  in  the  Proceedings  of  the 
California  Academy  of  Sciences. 

Our  largest  genus  of  American  Partridge  is  the  genus  Calli- 
pepla,  containing  as  it  does  three  species  and  two  subspecies. 
The  Scaled  Partridge  (C.  squamata)  is,  according  to  the  A.  O.  U. 
List,  found  upon  the  "  tablelands  of  Mexico,  from  the  valley  of 
Mexico  north  to  central  and  western  Texas."  It  occurs  also 
about  Santa  F£,  New  Mexico,  and  in  certain  localities  in  south- 
ern Arizona.  I  have  seen  specimens  in  the  flesh  of  this  bird,  shot 
fifty  miles  east  of  Fort  Wingate,  New  Mexico.  It  is  replaced  in 
northeastern  Mexico  and  the  lower  Eio  Grande  valley  in  Texas  by 
the  sub-species  known  as  the  Chestnut-bellied  Scaled  Partridge 
(C.  s.  castanogastris).  A  very  different-appearing  species  is  the 
California  partridge  (C.  californica ) ,  known  along  the  coast  re- 
gion of  California,  where  it  occurs  as  the  "  Valley  "  or  "  Top-knot 
quail."  It  is  found  as  far  south  as  Monterey,  and  it  has  been  suc- 
cessfully introduced  into  Oregon,  Washington,  and  British  Co- 
lumbia. Bendire  says,  "  Their  favorite  haunts  are  the  under- 
growth and  thickets  along  water  courses,  brush-covered  side 
hills,  and  canyons,  frequenting  the  roads,  cultivated  fields,  vine- 
yards, and  edges  of  clearings  to  feed.  It  is  a  constant  resident, 


216  CHAPTERS    ON    THE    NATURAL    HISTORY 

and  breeds  wherever  found."  A  subspecies  of  this  form  is  also 
called  the  valley  partridge  (C.  c.  vallicola),  but  it  is  a  gayer-col- 
ored bird,  with  a  paler-tinted  plumage  and  a  different  range.  It 
inhabits  the  valleys  of  the  mountains  and  foothills  of  the  interior 
of  the  State  of  California,  especially  the  Sierra  Nevadas  as  far 
south  as  Cape  St.  Lucas,  and  eastward  to  the  Panamint  moun- 
tains. In  western  Texas,  New  Mexico,  Arizona,  and  throughout 
the  southern  portions  of  California,  Nevada,  and  Utah;  in  the 
valley  of  the  Colorado,  and  thence  southward  into  northwestern 
Mexico,  we  meet  with  Gambel's  partridge  (C.  gambelii),  a  de- 
served favorite  and  a  very  handsome  species. 

Finally,  this  list  of  very  interesting  game  birds  is  completed 
by  the  Massena  Partridge  (Cyrtonyx  montezumce),  which  is  by  far 
one  of  the  very  finest  and  handsomest  species  in  the  United 
States.  Geographically,  it  is  distributed  over  the  tablelands  of 
Mexico,  from  the  city  of  Mexico  north  to  western  Texas,  and  is 
also  found  in  Arizona  and  New  Mexico.  It  is  a  strikingly  col- 
ored species  and  peculiarly  marked  in  plumage,  as  will  be  ob- 
served in  my  figure  of  it  that  illustrates  the  present  chapter.  In 
Arizona  and  New  Mexico  they  call  this  Partridge  the  "  Fool 
Quail,"  while  in  western  Texas  it  is  known  as  the  Black-bellied 
Quail,  or  simply  as  the  "  Black."  I  have  never  shot  this  bird,  but 
while  in  New7  Mexico  a  number  of  years  ago  I  was  presented  with 
some  specimens  of  it  in  the  flesh  that  had  been  killed  only  a  few 
days  before  by  Colonel  Bates,  of  the  Thirteenth  U.  S.  Infantry. 
At  the  time  I  thought  them  to  be  among  the  handsomest  game 
birds  I  had  ever  had  in  my  hands. 

In  reference  to  the  nidification  and  habits  of  the  Massena  Par- 
tridge, Mr.  G.  W.  Todd  wrote  Major  Bendire  to  the  following  ef- 
fect :  "  I  first  met  with  the  Massena  Partridge  in  Bandera  County, 
Texas,  in  1883,  where  they  were  very  scarce,  and  I  learned  but 
little  of  its  habits  for  a  long  time.  They  are  very  simple  and  un- 
suspicious, and  apparently  live  so  much  in  such  barren  and 
waste  places  that  they  do  not  see  enough  of  man  to  make  them 
afraid.  On  seeing  a  person  they  generally  squat  at  once,  or  run 
a  little  way  and  hide.  They  will  hardly  fly  until  one  is  almost  on 
them,  but  when  they  finally  do  fly  they  go  much  further  than 
either  the  Texan  Bob-white  or  the  Scaled  Partridge,  and  on 
alighting  they  run  rapidly  for  a  little  distance  and  then  squat 
ji^Jiin,  generally  flushing  easier  the  second  time.  It  is  rare  to  see 
more  than  six  together;  two  or  three  are  more  often  met  with. 


OF    THE    UNITED    STATES  219 

In  the  fall  of  1886  I  found  a  covey  of  five  on  a  wet  and  misty  day, 
and  killed  three  of  them  with  a  Winchester  rifle  before  the  re- 
maining two  flew.  I  never  found  their  nest  nor  met  with  small 
young  until  this  year.  I  saw  but  a  single  young  bird  this  sea- 
son, and  this  seemed  to  be  entirely  alone.  They  are  not  very 
abundant  here,  and  are  always  found  in  the  most  barren  places, 
among  rocks  and  wastes,  where  even  the  prickly  pear  is"  stunted, 
and  no  bush  grows  over  three  feet  high.  When  scared  they 
utter  a  kind  of  whistling  sound,  a  curious  combination  between 
a  chuckle  and  a  whistle,  and  while  flying  they  make  a  noise  a 
good  deal  like  a  Prairie  Hen,  though  softer,  and  less  loud,  like 
i  chuc-chuc-chuc  '  rapidly  repeated."  "  The  only  nest  of  this  spe- 
cies I  have  ever  seen  was  situated  under  the  edge  of  a  big  bunch 
of  a  coarse  species  of  grass,  known  as  *  hickory  grass.'  This 
grass  grows  out  from  the  center  and  hangs  over  on  all  sides  until 
the  blades  touch  the  ground.  It  is  a  round,  hard-stemmed  grass, 
and  only  grows  on  the  most  sterile  soil.  According  to  my  obser- 
vations the  Massena  Partridge  is  seldom  seen  in  other  localities 
than  where  this  grass  grows.  I  was  riding  at  a  walk  up  the 
slope  of  a  barren  hill  when  my  horse  almost  stepped  on  a  nest, 
touching  just  the  rim  of  it.  The  bird  gave  a  startled  flutter, 
alighting  again  within  three  feet  of  the  nest  and  not  over  six 
feet  from  me;  thence  she  walked  away  with  her  crest  slightly 
erected,  uttering  a  low  chuckling  whistle  until  lost  to  view 
behind  a  Spanish  bayonet  plant  (yucca),  about  thirty  feet  off.  I 
was  riding  a  rather  unruly  horse,  and  had  to  return  about  thirty 
yards  to  tie  him  to  a  yucca  before  I  could  examine  the  nest.  This 
was  placed  in  a  slight  depression,  possibly  dug  out  by  some  ani- 
mal, the  top  of  the  nest  being  on  a  level  with  the  earth  around  it. 
It  was  well  lined  with  fine  stalks  of  wire-grass  almost  exclu- 
sively, the  cavity  being  about  five  inches  in  diameter  and  two 
inches  deep.  At  the  back,  next  to  the  grass,  it  was  slightly 
arched  over,  and  the  overhanging  blades  of  grass  hid  it  entirely 
from  sight.  The  nest  was  more  carefully  made  than  the  average 
Bob-white's  nest,  and  very  nicely  concealed."  Major  Bendire,  in 
describing  these  eggs,  has  said  that  they  were  "  ten  in  number, 
were  fresh  when  found,  pure  white  in  color,  rather  glossy,  and 
the  majority  of  them  are  more  elongated  than  those  of  the  Bob- 
white.  A  few  of  these  eggs  resemble  those  of  the  latter  some- 
what in  shape,  but  the  greater  number  are  distinctly  ovate  and 
much  more  glossy.  Some  are  slightly  granulated,  and  corruga- 


220  CHAPTERS    ON    THE    NATURAL    HISTORY 

-tions  converge  from  near  the  middle  to  the  small  end."  (Life 
Histories  of  North  American  Birds,  pp.  39,  40.)  These  were  the 
first  fully  identified  eggs  of  the  Massena  Partridge  that  had 
ever  fallen  into  the  hands  of  science,  and  it  is  interesting  to 
know  that  they  were  not  discovered  until  the  year  1890.  We 
have  nowhere  in  the  English  language  better  and  fuller  accounts 
of  the  life-histories  of  our  North  American  Partridges  than  are 
to  be  found  in  Bendire's  great  work  from  which  I  have  just 
quoted,  and  it  is  greatly  to  be  regretted  that  so  useful  and  accu- 
rate an  ornithological  treatise  should  have,  in  being  a  govern- 
ment publication,  received,  at  least  at  the  outstart,  such  a  lim- 
ited circulation.  It  offers  a  great  temptation  to  me  to  quote 
more  extensively  from  its  pages,  but  were  I  to  do  so  I  would 
soon  exceed  the  scope  of  the  present  volume  and  the  proper  lim- 
its of  this  chapter. 

In  many  other  parts  of  the  world  we  meet  with  numerous 
kinds  of  partridges,  belonging  to  various  genera  not  represented 
in  this  country.  Perdico  cinerea — the  Gray  Partridge — is  the 
game  bird  of  Great  Britain.  Subspecies  of  it  are  found  in  Siberia 
and  Tibet.  Europe  also  has  the  Ked-legged  partridge  (Gaccdbis 
rufa),  and  another  of  the  same  genus,  while  fine*  forms  of  the  sub- 
family also  occur  in  Africa  and  elsewhere. 


CHAPTER  XVI. 

AMERICAN  VULTURES. 

(Super family  Cathartoidea.) 
(Family  Cathartidce.) 

ULTUEES  of  one  species  or  another  occur  in  nearly 
all  parts  of  the  world,  but  our  forms  of  Ameri- 
can Vultures  constitute  a  family  quite  distinct 
from  the  falconine  types  of  them  found  in  the 
Old  World  and  elsewhere.  This  difference  has  no  especial  refer- 
ence to  the  habits  of  the  birds  in  the  two  groups,  but  is  seen  in 
the  anatomical  structure  of  their  representatives,  and  in  this 
particular  the  distinction  is  a  very  radical  one.  Upon  various 
occasions  during  the  past  twenty  years  I  have  published  a  num- 
ber of  accounts  of  the  Vultures  of  this  country,  including  one  or 
two  more  or  less  elaborate  memoirs  upon  their  structure,  illus- 
trated by  numerous  plates.  Several  years  ago,  while  living  in 
New  Mexico,  I  had  a  Turkey  Vulture  alive  for  a  number  of  weeks, 
and  at  different  times  endeavored  to  secure  satisfactory  photo- 
graphs of  him,  but  owing  to  my  inexperience  in  the  art  in  those 
days,  my  success  in  the  matter  was  not  nearly  as  good  as  it  has 
been  recently.  During  the  summer  of  1896  my  son  slightly 
wounded  a  fine  male  specimen  of  our  common  Turkey  Buzzard, 
and  I  kept  him  alive  for  nearly  a  fortnight.  After  he  had  practi- 
cally recovered  from  his  wounds,  he  was  made  the  subject  for 
my  camera  upon  one  or  two  occasions,  and  at  the  second  attempt 
I  succeeded  in  obtaining  a  life-size  picture  of  his  head,  that  for 
the  exhibition  of  characters  and  general  appearance  was  quite 
satisfactory.  He  proved  to  be  not  the  easiest  subject  in  the 
world,  and  those  who  have  ever  tried  this  experiment  can  appre- 
ciate the  pride  I  feel  upon  presenting  the  fine  reproduction  of 
my  attempt  shown  in  the  accompanying  figure. 

Passing  by,  as  we  must  in  as  brief  a  chapter  as  the  present  one, 
any  description  of  that  biggest  of  all  the  world's  vultures,  the 
Condor  of  South  America,  and  such  other  species  as  are  strictly 
confined  to  that  country  and  to  Central  America  and  Mexico,  I 
shall  confine  my  observations  here  to  those  forms  only  that  are 
known  to  regularly  occur  north  of  the  southern  boundary  of  the 
United  States. 


222 


CHAPTERS    ON    THE    NATURAL    HISTORY 


Some  have  claimed  to  have  seen  Burrough's  Turkey  Vulture 
(Catliartes  burrovianus)  within  our  boundaries,  but  it  is  a  matter 
of  considerable  doubt;  while  that  the  King  Vulture  (Gypagits 


FIG.  57.     HEAD  OF  THE  TURKEY  VULTURE  (Catharf.es  aura] 

$  ;  Adult. 

Left  lateral  aspect;  nat.  size.     From  a  photograph  taken  from  life  by  the  Author. 

papa)  has  been  seen  in  Arizona  is  far  less  likely,  as  the  striking 
black  and  white  plumage  of  that  large  bird  could  hardly  have 


OF    THE    UNITED    STATES  223 

been  mistaken  for  any  other  species,  and  it  is  more  than  probable 
that  the  single  alleged  occurrence  in  its  case  is  based  upon  an 
entirely  erroneous  statement.  Not  taking  into  account,  then, 
these  and  others  alluded  to,  we  find  that  the  group  is  represented 
in  our  United  States  avifauna  by  three  very  remarkable  species. 
These  are  the  California  Vulture  (Pseudogryplms  calif  ornianus), 
the  Turkey  Vulture  (Cathartes  aura)  (see  figure),  and  the  Black 
Vulture  (Catharista  atrata).  If  we  accept  the  geographical  dis- 
tribution of  these  several  species  as  given  in  the  Check  List  of 
the  American  Ornithologists'  Union,  we  find  that  the  California 
Vulture  is  confined  to  the  "  coast  ranges  of  southern  California, 
from  Monterey  Bay  southward  into  Lower  California,  formerly 
north  to  Frazer  Kiver" ;  that  the  Turkey  Vulture  is  found  in  "tem- 
perate North  America, 'from  New  Jersey,  Ohio  valley,  Saskatch- 
ewan region,  and  British  Columbia,  southward  to  Patagonia  and 
the  Falkland  islands;  casual  in  New  England";  and  finally,  the 
Black  Vulture  occurs  in  the  "  South  Atlantic  and  Gulf  States, 
north  regularly  to  North  Carolina  and  the  lower  Ohio  valley, 
west  to  the  Great  Plains,  and  south  through  Mexico  and  Central 
America,  the  West  Indies,  and  most  of  South  America,  strag- 
gling north  to  New  York,  New  England,  and  South  Dakota; 
breeds  in  the  United  States  from  North  Carolina  coastwise  to 
Texas,  and  in  the  interior  to  Indiana,  Illinois,  and  Kansas." 

In  these  vultures  we  find  at  the  base  of  the  middle  and  inner 
toes  a  distinct  web  to  exist,  and  their  weak  feet  are  entirely  unfit 
for  grasping,  being  totally  different  in  this  particular  from  the 
talons  of  a  falcon.  Excepting  the  young,  their  heads  are  prac- 
tically unfeathered,  the  openings  to  the  nostrils  being  placed 
longitudinally.  Their  beaks  are  hooked,  and  their  gape  wide. 
In  the  main,  as  a  rule,  their  plumage  is  of  a  dull  black,  but  in  the 
Turkey  Vulture  this  is  glossed  with  a  greenish  or  violet  shade, 
and  the  upper  plumage  shows  a  4eeP  emargination  of  brown 
to  the  feathers.  Old  Turkey  Buzzards  exhibit  transverse  wrinkles 
on  the  top  of  the  head  and  below  the  gape,  while  the  distal  or 
horny  part  of  the  beak  is  pure  white,  and  the  skinny  parts  about 
the  nostrils  and  eyes  are  of  a  livid  red  color.  Numerous  small, 
white  caruncles  occur  here  beyond  the  eyes,  while  in  the  subadult 
individuals  all  these  parts  are  blackish.  They  make  their  nests, 
as  a  rule,  in  cavities,  either  upon  or  near  the  ground ;  frequently 
in  hollow  logs  or  stumps.  The  Black  and  Turkey  Vultures  lay 
large  and  beautifully  marked  eggs,  while  on  the  other  hand  the 


224  CHAPTERS    ON    THE    NATURAL    HISTORY 


of  the  California  Vulture  are  of  a  dull  white  with  a  green- 
ish shade.  From  one  cause  or  another,  this  latter  bird  is  now 
nearly  extinct,  and  personally  I  have  never  enjoyed  the  oppor- 
tunity of  studying  its  habits  in  its  native  haunts.  Among  oolo- 
gists  its  eggs  are  in  great  demand,  and  easily  command  f  100 
apiece,  and  good  skins  of  this  species  will  doubtless  fetch  an 
equal  price. 

Best  known,  perhaps,  of  all  the  characteristics  of  these  pecu- 
liar birds  is  their  habit  of  feeding  upon  carcasses,  and  as  this 
fact  is  universally  known,  man,  in  the  countries  where  vultures 
occur,  regards  them  writh  great  favor  as  useful  scavengers. 
These  habits  have  given  rise  to  two  very  interesting  problems  in 
regard  to  them;  one  is  the  explanation  for  the  soaring  flight  of 
vultures,  and  the  exact  manner  of  its  accomplishment;  and  the 
other  is  the  solution  of  the  problem  as  to  how  they  detect  the 
presence  of  their  food.  Neither  of  these  questions  has  been  de- 
cided to  the  satisfaction  of  all  minds.  There  is  a  large  literature 
extant  upon  the  first  problem,  and  many  interesting  contribu- 
tions to  the  second,  which  perhaps  comes  the  nearer  being  under- 
stood. So  far  as  my  personal  observation  goes,  I  am  satisfied 
that  the  carcass  of  a  dead  animal  is  made  known  to  vultures 
almost  entirely  through  the  sense  of  sight,  and  not  through  the 
sense  of  smell.  They  are  as  far-sighted  and  as  keen-eyed  as 
hawks,  while  my  anatomical  studies  of  their  olfactory  apparatus 
revealed  nothing  indicative  of  unusual  development.  By  this  I 
by  no  means  intend  to  convey  the  idea  that  they  are  at  all  lack- 
ing in  the  sense  of  smell,  for  if  the  air  be  tainted  by  the  odor 
from  carrion,  and  the  wind  in  the  right  direction,  they  can  de- 
tect the  presence  of  the  putrefying  flesh  for  a  very  long  distance, 
as  I  have  personally  observed,  and  that,  too,  when  the  carcass  is 
completely  concealed  from  view. 

Young  turkey  vultures  are^  largely  covered  with  white  down, 
which  gives  them  a  very  remarkable  appearance;  added  to  this, 
they  stand  in  a  peculiar  attitude,  with  the  wings  partly  spread, 
and  the  head  and  neck  curved  forward,  so  as  to  place  the  former 
almost  between  the  legs  in  front. 

During  the  early  part  of  the  summer  of  1897  a  nestling  of  this 
species  (Cathartes  aura)  came  alive  into  the  hands  of  Mr.  Will- 
iam Palmer,  chief  taxidermist  of  the  United  States  National  Mu- 
seum. This  specimen  he  kindly  loaned  me,  and  I  succeeded  in 
making  a  very  good  photograph  of  it.  The  reproduction  of  this 


FIG.  58.     YOUNG  TURKEY  VULTURE  (Cathartea'aura). 

Greatly  reduced.     Reproduced  from  a  photograph  made  from  life  by  the  Author. 


OF    THE    UNITED    STATES  227 

is  shown  in  Fig.  58  of  the  present  chapter,  and  it  will  be  seen 
that  it  is  only  in  the  wings  (primaries  and  secondaries)  that  black 
feathers  appear  at  this  age,  while  the  face  of  the  bird  is  naked  to 
a  distance  a  little  back  of  the  eye  upon  either  side.  Such  parts 
of  the  posterior  limbs  and  feet  as  are  not  covered  with  down  are 
of  a  rather  light  soiled  gray  color,  and  always  more  or  less  whit- 
ened by  the  excrement  passed  by  the  bird  itself.  This  bird  fed 
ravenously  upon  carrion  and  raw  meat  of  any  kind,  gorging  him- 
self at  every  meal;  it  likewise  took  water  freely.  When  dis- 
turbed or  handled  it  gave  vent  to  a  peculiar  complaining  cry,  not 
easily  described.  It  showed  no  fear  of  man  at  all,  and  is  now, 
at  this  writing,  still  in  possession  of  Mr.  Palmer,  who  keeps  it  in 
his  shops  at  the  Museum  (September  6,  1897),  where  it  has  be- 
come thoroughly  domesticated.  All  its  beautiful  black  plumage 
is  out,  and  only  a  little  of  the  white  down  left,  and  that  is  upon 
the  upper  part  of  the  neck.  Mr.  Palmer  tells  me  that  it  has  the 
habit  of  standing  with  its  back  exposed  to  the  full  glare  of  the 
sun,  and  in  doing  this  stretches  out  its  wings  to  their  full  capac- 
ity, apparently  enjoying  the  "  sun  bath  "  in  the  highest  degree. 

Old  vultures,  when  slightly  wounded,  have  a  way  of  "  playing 
'possum  "  so  successfully  that  cases,  not  a  few,  are  upon  record 
where  the  device  has  saved  their  lives.  Frequently,  after  gorg- 
ing themselves  upon  carrion,  turkey  vultures  will  in  numbers  all 
fly  up  and  alight  upon  the  limbs  of  some  great  dead  tree  in  the 
neighborhood,  when,  allowing  their  wings  to  hang  down  in  a  list- 
less manner,  they  will  sun  themselves  for  hours,  while  the  slow 
process  of  digestion  is  in  progress.  When  kept  in  confinement 
they  feed  readily  upon  fresh  raw  meat,  drink  plenty  of  water, 
and  are  fond  of  standing  in  a  gentle  rain  storm.  They  are  like- 
wise so  careful  of  their  plumage  and  so  inoffensive  in  habits  that 
one  in  time  forgets  that  in  nature  they  are  naturally  devourers 
of  carrion.  Where  turkey  vultures  abound,  however,  I  am  in- 
clined to  believe  it  is  only  rarely  that  they  devour  putrid  flesh, 
for  an  animal  is  no  sooner  dead  and  exposed  in  a  favorable  place 
for  them  than  it  will  be  immediately  attacked  by  dozens  of  these 
birds  at  a  time;  so  that  even  a  horse  will  be  devoured  by  the 
crew  in  an  incredibly  short  period,  and  nothing  left  but  the  skele- 
ton, and  long  before  the  flesh  has  an  opportunity  to  decompose. 
It  requires  a  heavy  load  of  shot  to  down  one  of  these  vultures, 
and  I  have  often  seen  one  escape  when  I  knew  it  had  a  small 
lead  mine  in  the  shape  of  No.  4's  pretty  equally  distributed 
throughout  its  system. 


228  CHAPTERS    ON    THE    NATURAL    HISTORY 

Among  the  best  of  the  earlier  accounts  given  of  the  Turkey 
Vulture  is  that  by  Wilson,  who  remarked  in  his  American  Orni- 
thology that  in  "  New  Jersey  the  Turkey  Buzzard  hatches  in  May, 
the  deep  recesses  of  the  solitary  swamps  of  that  State  affording 
situations  well  suited  to  the  purpose.  The  female  is  at  no  pains 
to  form  a  nest  with  materials;  but,  having  chosen  a  suitable 
place,  which  is  either  a  truncated  hollow  tree,  an  excavated 
stump,  or  log,  she  lays  on  the  rotten  wood  from  two  to  four  eggs, 
of  a  dull  dirty  white,  or  pale  cream  color,  splashed  all  over  with 
chocolate,  mingled  with  blackish  touches,  the  blotches  largest 
and  thickest  toward  the  great  end;  the  form  something  like  the 
egg  of  a  goose,  but  blunter  at  the  small  end;  length,  two  inches 
and  three-quarters;  breadth,  two  inches.  The  male  watches 
often  while  the  female  is  sitting;  and,  if  not  disturbed,  they  will 
occupy  the  same  breeding  place  for  several  years.  The  young 
are  clothed  with  a  whitish  down,  similar  to  that  which  covers 
young  goslings.  If  any  person  approaches  the  nest  and  attempts 
to  handle  them,  they  will  immediately  vomit  such  offensive  mat- 
ter as  to  compel  the  intruder  to  a  precipitant  retreat. 

"  The  Turkey  Buzzards  are  gregarious,  peaceable,  and  harm- 
less, never  offering  any  violence  to  a  living  animal,  or,  like  the 
plunderers  of  the  Falco  tribe,  depriving  the  husbandman  of  his 
stock.  Hence,  though,  in  consequence  of  their  filthy  habits,  they 
are  not  beloved,  yet  they  are  respected  for  their  usefulness;  and 
in  the  Southern  States,  where  they  are  most  needed,  they,  as  well 
as  the  Black  Vultures,  are  protected  by  a  law  which  imposes  a 
fine  on  those  who  wilfully  deprive  them  of  life.  They  generally 
roost  in  flocks,  on  the  limbs  of  large  trees ;  and  they  may  be  seen 
on  a  summer  morning  spreading  out  their  wings  to  the  rising 
sun,  and  remaining  in  that  posture  for  a  considerable  time. 
Pennant  conjectures  that  this  is  "  to  purify  their  bodies,  which 
are  most  offensively  fetid."  But  is  it  reasonable  to  suppose  that 
that  effluvia  can  be  offensive  to  them  which  arises  from  food  per- 
fectly adapted  to  their  nature,  and  which  is  constantly  the  object 
of  their  desires?  Many  birds,  and  particularly  those  of  the 
granivorous  kind,  have  a  similar  habit,  which  doubtless  is  at- 
tended with  the  same  exhilarating  effects  as  an  exposure  to  the 
pure  air  of  the  morning  has  on  the  frame  of  one  just  risen  from 
repose. 

"  These  birds,  unless  when  rising  from  the  earth,  seldom  flap 
their  wings,  but  sweep  along  in  ogees,  and  dipping  and  rising 


OF    THE    UNITED    STATES  229 

lines,  and  move  with  great  rapidity.  They  are  often  seen  in 
companies,  soaring  at  an  immense  height,  particularly  previous 
to  a  thunder-storm.  Their  wings  are  not  spread  horizontally, 
but  form  a  slight  angle  with  the  body  upward,  the  tips  having 
an  upward  curve.  Their  sense  of  smelling  is  astonishingly  ex- 
quisite, and  they  never  fail  to  discover  carrion,  even  when  at  the 
distance  of  several  miles  from  it.  When  once  they  have  found  a 
carcass,  if  not  molested,  they  will  not  leave  the  place  until  the 
whole  is  devoured.  At  such  times  they  eat  so  immoderately  that 
frequently  they  are  incapable  of  rising,  and  may  be  caught  with- 
out much  difficulty;  but  few  that  are  acquainted  with  them  will 
have  the  temerity  to  undertake  the  task.  A  man  in  the  State  of 
Delaware,  a  few  years  since,  observing  some  Turkey  Buzzards  re- 
galing themselves  upon  the  carcass  of  a  horse  which  was  in  a 
highly  putrid  state,  conceived  the  design  of  making  a  captive  of 
one,  to  take  home  for  the  amusement  of  his  children.  He  cau- 
tiously approached,  and,  springing  upon  the  unsuspicious  group, 
grasped  a  fine,  plump  fellow  in  his  arms,  and  was  bearing  off 
his  prize  in  triumph,  when  lo !  the  indignant  vulture  disgorged 
such  a  torrent  of  filth  in  the  face  of  our  hero  that  it  produced  all 
the  effects  of  a  most  powerful  emetic,  and  forever  cured  him  of 
his  inclination  for  Turkey  Buzzards." 

Wilson  in  this  account  omits  to  mention  the  great  beauty  of 
the  eggs  of  this  species;  and,  as  I  have  said  above,  I  feel  sure 
that  he  is  in  error  in  regard  to  the  manner  in  which  vultures 
detect  carrion.  It  is  undoubtedly  largely  by  the  sense  of  sight 
and  not  that  of  smell,  although  the  latter,  as  stated  above,  often 
greatly  assists  them.  In  commencing  their  feast  upon  a  dead 
animal  I  have  frequently  noticed  that  they  first  pick  out  the  eyes 
of  the  carcass  and  then  attack  the  softer  structures.  Advancing 
putrefaction  soon  helps  them  out.  If  many  of  the  birds  are  pres- 
ent at  the  entertainment  they  will,  in  the  course  of  a  few  days, 
clean  off  the  skeleton  of  either  a  cow  or  a  horse,  and  then  for 
over  a  week  afterward  sit  round  in  the  trees  nearby,  if  there  be 
any,  or  on  the  ground,  contemplating  their  feat. 

Dr.  William  L.  Kalph,  writing  to  Major  Bendire,  has  said, 
"  Many  times  I  have  seen  these  birds  in  company  with  the  Black 
Vulture  floating  down  a  stream  on  a  dead  alligator,  cow,  or  other 
large  animal,  crowded  so  closely  together  that  they  could  hardly 
keep  their  balance,  and  followed  by  a  number  on  the  wing.  I 
never  have  seen  them  fight  very  much  when  feeding,  but  they 


230  CHAPTERS    ON    THE    NATURAL    HISTORY 

will  scold  and  peck  at  one  another,  and  sometimes  two  birds  will 
get  hold  of  the  same  piece  of  meat  and  pull  against  each  other 
until  it  breaks  or  until  the  weaker  one  has  to  give  it  up."  (Life 
Hixt.  Am.  Birds.) 

In  the  South,  as  in  the  Gulf  States  and  the  seaports  and  for- 
ests of  the  entire  length  of  the  eastern  coast  of  Mexico,  I  have 
seen  a  far  greater  number  of  Black  Vultures  (Catharista  atrata) 
than  the  Turkey  Buzzards.  The  two  species  do  not  associate 
together,  and  by  the  careful  observer  are  very  easily  told  apart. 
Both  in  the  matter  of  habits  and  flight  they  are  distinctly  differ- 
ent. Black  vultures  actually  swarm  in  the  neighborhood  of 
many  of  our  Southern  cities.  Around  the  slaughter  houses  be- 
low New  Orleans  I  have  been  able  to  count  as  many  as  a  thou- 
sand at  a  time;  the  ground,  the  fences,  housetops,  and  many 
other  places  being  black  with  them.  They  are  as  tame  as  barn- 
yard fowls,  and  are  by  no  means  difficult  to  capture,  though  I 
advise  against  the  experiment,  especially  if  they  have  just  been 
heartily  feeding  upon  some  offal,  more  odorous  and  ripe  than 
otherwise.  Wilson  gives  us  some  excellent  accounts  of  these 
birds;  in  fact,  he  has  been  more  widely  quoted  than  any  other 
one  of  our  ornithologists  who  may  have  written  of  their  natural 
history.  Darwin,  as  well  as  Gosse,  were  likewise  much  inter- 
ested in  these  famous  birds,  and  contributed  not  a  little  to  what 
has  been  published  concerning  them. 

Bendire,  in  his  work,  has  said  "  the  Black  Vulture  is  more  or 
less  gregarious  in  its  habits  at  all  times,  breeding  frequently  in 
small  communities,  making  little  or  no  nest,  and  the  eggs,  usu- 
ally two  in  number,  are,  perhaps  with  exceedingly  rare  excep- 
tions, always  placed  on  the  ground,  in  canebrakes,  under  bushes, 
old  logs,  on  rocks,  and  again  in  perfectly  open  and  unsheltered 
situations.  Occasionally  but  one  egg  will  be  laid,  and  very  rarely 
three.  In  the  more  Southern  States  nidification  begins  about 
the  first  of  March,  and  later  northward. 

"  Probably  but  one  brood  is  raised  in  a  season.  The  young 
when  first  hatched  are  covered  with  light  buff-colored  down, 
and  they  are  fed  in  the  same  manner  as  the  young  of  the  preced- 
ing species."  [C.  aura.] 

None  of  our  vultures  have  the  restricted  range  that  the  Cali- 
fornia vulture  (Pseudoyryphus  calif ornianus )  has,  it  being  found 
only  in  a  very  limited  area  of  the  State  the  name  of  which  it 
bears.  Formerly  this  species  was  far  more  abundant,  and  had  a 


OF    THE    UNITED    STATES  231 

much  greater  distribution.  It  is  being  rapidly  exterminated; 
Indeed,  they  are  more  than  rare  at  the  present  writing.  Nearly 
all  the  early  describers  of  this  great  vulture  gave  its  eggs  as 
being  two  in  number,  and  jet  Uack  in  color.  It  is  now  well  known 
that  they  are  of  a  uniform  tint,  unspotted,  and  of  a  light  grayish- 
green  color.  According  to  Bendire,  "  the  mode  of  nidiflcation  of 
the  California  vulture  is  similar  to  that  of  the  common" Turkey 
vulture,  and  that  as  a  rule  they  make  but  little  of  a  nest,  usually 
laying  their  eggs  on  rubbish  on  the  ground  found  in  the  immedi- 
ate vicinity  of  the  nesting  site,  alongside  or  in  a  hollow  log,  or  in 
crevices  of  rocky  cliffs.  It  is  possible  that  at  times  they  make 
use  of  the  abandoned  nests  of  the  Golden  Eagles,  which  are  com- 
mon in  that  part  of  California,  and  the  nest  described  to  Mr. 
Flint  as  being  placed  in  a  large  redwood  tree  in  the  Santa  Cruz 
Mountains  was  probably  such  an  one,  and  was  made  use  of  by 
the  vultures  after  being  abandoned  by  the  eagles." 

Some  of  the  reports  sent  to  Bendire,  and  published  in  his  Life 
Histories  of  North  American  Birds,  go  to  show  that  this  vulture 
is  likely  to  increase  in  numbers  in  the  future,  as  its  great  thin- 
ning out  in  former  years  was  largely  due  to  its  feeding  upon  the 
poisoned  carcasses,  placed  as  bait  for  the  carnivora  by  cattle- 
raisers.  This  practice  has,  at  the  present  time,  been  largely 
-abandoned. 


CHAPTER  XVII. 

SOME  OF  THE  OWLS  OF  THE  UNITED  STATES. 

(Striges.) 

HEEE  is  a  very  interesting  list  of  owls  in  the 
avifauna  of  the  United  States  and  British  Amer- 
ica, while  others  occur  in  Mexico  south  to  the 
Isthmus,  that  as  yet  are  not  known  to  cross  our 
southern  boundary-line.  Of  all  these  no  species  is  handsomer, 
more  graceful  in  action,  or  of  greater  value  to  man,  than  the 
American  Barn  Owl  (Striw  pratincola),  a  form  of  very  general 
distribution  in  this  country,  though  not  common  in  northern  or 
northeastern  sections.  I  have  heard  some  people  call  this  the 
monkey-faced  owl,  and  others  the  white  owl, — the  latter  from 
the  fact  that  so  much  white  occurs  in  its  plumage.  In  Europe 
there  is  also  a  Barn  owl  very  closely  akin  to  our  own  bird,  and  at 
one  time  thought  to  be  identical  with  it. 

This  species  has  a  total  length  varying  between  fifteen  and 
twenty-one  inches,  the  variance  being  due  to  age  or  sex,  or  both. 
The  white  of  the  lower  parts  may  be  tinged  with  a  bright  tawny 
color,  while  the  upper  plumage  is  chiefly  of  a  ochraceous-yellow 
with  a  continuous  grayish  tinge  to  it,  the  latter  being  more  or 
less  flecked  and  minutely  spotted  with  white  and  neutral  tint. 
The  quills  and  tail  feathers  are  barred,  and  the  entire  plumage 
has  an  extremely  soft  and  delicate  appearance,  rendering  the 
identification  of  the  species  a  very  simple  matter. 

The  Barn  Owl  makes  no  nest,  simply  depositing  its  from  five 
to  seven  ovate  white  eggs  in  any  convenient  cavity,  as  a  hollow 
of  a  tree,  corners  in  a  steeple,  tower,  or  barn,  the  burrows  of  such 
animals  as  the  badger,  holes  in  cliffs,  and  the  like.  Sometimes 
they  lay  large  sets  of  eggs,  but  all  of  them  do  not  hatch,  as  a  rule. 
A  young  bird  of  this  species,  in  the  mounted  collection  at  the 
Smithsonian  Institution  is  nearly  as  large  as  the  adult,  having 
acquired  most  all  of  its  plumage,  but  over  the  latter  still  curi- 
ously grows  the  feather-down, — and  although  by  no  means  dense 
enough  to  mask  it,  yet  gives  the  bird  a  very  remarkable  ap- 
pearance. 

Another  owl  that  breeds  more  or  less  generally  all  over  the 
United  States  is  the  American  Long-eared  Owl,  which,  together 


OF    THE    UNITED    STATES  233 

with  the  cosmopolitan  Short-eared  Owl,  are  the  only  two  repre- 
sentatives in  this  country  of  the  genus  Asio — the  first-named 
being  the  A.  wilsonianus  of  science,  and  the  latter  A.  accipitrinus. 
In  my  lifetime  I  have  collected  several  specimens  of  either  of 
these  forms,  but  more  particularly  the  short-eared  one.  Long- 
eared  owls  have  the  feather-horns  very  conspicuous, — ornaments 
that  some  authors  call  "  ear-tufts/'  although  they  have~nothing 
whatever  to  do  with  the  ears  of  the  bird.  Asio  accipitrinus  has 
these  feather-horns  very  small,  and  when  one  comes  to  handle 
a  recently  shot  specimen  they  are  hardly  at  all  apparent.  They 
only  show  when  in  life  the  bird  becomes  excited  and  erects  them 
to  their  utmost,  while  at  the  same  time  the  other  plumage  of  the 
head  is  depressed.  For  one  to  indentify  either  of  these  two  spe- 
cies it  must  be  remembered  that  we  have  no  other  mottled, 
streaked  and  banded,  dark-plumaged,  very  conspicuously  tufted 
owl  in  this  country  that  has  an  average  of  only  thirteen  to  six- 
teen inches,  except  the  American  Long-eared  Owl, — while  the 
short-eared  one  averaging  but  a  trifle  larger,  with  its  tawny 
plumage,  boldly  striped  with  dark  brown,  can  easily  be  told, 
when  adult,  by  its  rudimentary  feather-horns.  All  owls  lay 
white  eggs  that  are  usually  ovate  in  form,  approaching  the 
spherical  very  closely  in  some  examples. 

The  Long-eared  Owl  commonly  lays  five  eggs,  the  white  shells 
being  finely  granulated  and  rather  glossy;  and  according  to 
Bendire  this  bird  "rarely  constructs  a  nest  of  its  own;  usually 
the  last  year's  nest  of  a  crow  is  slightly  repaired  by  being  built 
up  on  the  sides  and  lined  with  a  little  dry  grass,  a  few  dead 
leaves,  and  feathers;  some  of  the  latter  may  nearly  always  be 
seen  hanging  on  the  outside  of  the  nest.  Fully  three-fourths  of 
the  nests  found  by  me  occupied  by  these  owls  were  those  of  the 
Crow.  Only  a  very  few  were  evidently  built  by  the  birds  them- 
selves." 

Strange  to  relate,  both  Barn  Owls  and  the  long-eared  species 
have,  in  either  case,  been  met  with  occasionally  in  flocks.  Mr. 
B.  W.  Evermann,  formerly  of  the  United  States  Fish  Commis- 
sion, once  saw  in  California  more  than  fifty  of  the  former  in  a 
flock  among  oak  trees;  while  as  many  as  fifteen  of  the  latter 
have  been  found  in  one  tree  at  a  time. 

At  this  writing  I  have  before  me  a  fine  living  specimen  of  a 
subadult  Long-eared  Owl,  kindly  loaned  me  by  Mr.  Ed.  S. 
Schmid,  the  proprietor  of  the  Animal  Pet  Emporium,  of  Wash- 


234:  CHAPTERS    ON    THE    NATURAL    HISTORY 

ington,  D.  C.  When  first  obtained  the  bird  was  largely  in  late 
nestling  plumage,  but  during  the  fortnight  it  has  been  in  my 
keeping  all  the  feathering  of  the  breast  and  back  has  come  out 
as  in  the  adult.  The  entire  top  of  the  head  is  as  yet  woolly  as  in 
well-advanced  nestlings;  while  the  feather-horns  or  tufts  are 
but  still  rudimentary.  This  bird  is  taming  nicely,  and  readily 
feeds  upon  raw  meat,  sparrows,  mice,  etc.  During  the  month  of 
June,  1897,  I  made  several  fine  photographic  pictures  of  this 
young  owrl,  and  of  these  two  are  reproduced  in  the  present  chap- 
ter as  illustrations. 

In  Fig.  59  the  bird  is  standing  erect,  facing  and  closely 
watching  the  person  near  him  (I  say  him,  but  this  individual 
may  be  a  female),  while  in  Fig.  60,  a  crouching  and  defensive 
attitude  has  been  assumed,  caused  by  my  teasing,  in  order  to  se- 
cure it.  As  is  well  known,  owls  disgorge  from  time  to  time  pecu- 
liar pellets  composed  of  the  indigestible  portions  of  their  food, 
as  small  bones,  hair,  and  feathers.  This  owl  has  disgorged  two 
or  three  of  such  pellets  since  having  been  in  my  possession. 
Each  was  about  as  big  as  my  thumb,  and  made  up  of  sparrow 
feathers  and  bones;  the  latter  including  the  entire  skull,  the 
limb-bones,  and  the  main  ones  of  the  trunk  skeleton.  This  ejec- 
tion of  pellets  by  the  mouth  of  this  kind  is  done  by  all  owls, 
"  excepting  possibly  the  little  Elf  Owl,"  as  Bendire  says  in  his 
Life  Histories  of  North  American  Birds.  Most  frequently  this 
species  roosts  in  some  dense  tree  or  shrub  during  the  daytime,  in 
the  immediate  vicinity  of  water.  Years  ago,  during  one  winter's 
day,  I  surprised  one  of  these  owls  in  a  close  growth  of  small 
hemlocks  near  Stamford,  Connecticut.  Upon  seeing  or  hearing 
me  it  drew  itself  up  to  its  full  height,  and,  pressing  its  feathers 
close  to  its  body,  and  erecting  its  feather-horns  to  their  fullest 
capacity,  it  appeared  as  long  and  slender  as  possible;  and  as  it 
made  no  movement  whatsoever,  I  came  near  mistaking  it  for  a 
longish  dead  limb  of  the  tree  upon  which  it  was  perched.  At  the 
time  the  thermometer  stood  several  degrees  below  zero,  the 
ground  being  covered  with  snow,  and  my  hands  and  fingers  were 
utterly  benumbed  with  the  biting  cold.  The  timber  was  so 
dense  that  I  backed  away  from  the  fellow  with  decided  diffi- 
culty, holding  onto,  at  the  same  time,  my  old  muzzle-loading  and 
ice-cold  gun,  a  shot  from  which,  a  few  moments  later,  decided 
the  fate  of  that  very  handsome  owl.  Winged,  it  tumbled  down 
into  the  snow,  and  I  made  a  rush  for  it,  and  incautiously  seized 


FIG.  59.     AMERICAN  LONG-EARED  OWL  (Asio  wihonianns), 

Subadu  t.     Photographed  one-half  the  size  of  life,  from  the  living  specimen,  by  the  Author. 


OF  THE  UNITED  STATES  237 

it  by  the  sound  one  of  the  opposite  side,  when  as  quick  as  a  flash 
it  had  all  eight  of  its  claws — sharp  as  needles,  too — plunged 


FIG.  60.     THE  LONG-EARED  OWL  (Asio  wllsonianus). 

Subadult.     Same  specimen  as  shown  in  Figure  56.      Photographed  from  life  (one-half  size),  by  the 

Author. 

into  my  nearly  frozen  and  naked  hands.     There  was  a  lively 
tussle  before  that  owl  and  myself,  together  with  the  gun,  and 


238  CHAPTERS    ON    THE    NATURAL    HISTORY 

collecting  basket,  were  out  in  the  clear  once  more.  But  we  got 
there,  and  his  mounted  owlship  long  adorned  the  top  shelf  of  my 
book-case  at  home  afterward. 

Bendire  in  his  work  devotes  a  long  paragraph  describing  the 
defiant  attitudes  assumed  by  this  species,  when  annoyed  or  sur- 
prised, after  it  is  aware  that  it  has  been  discovered.  One  of 
these  attitudes  is  beautifully  shown  in  Fig.  60  of  this  chapter 
Frequently  they  are  even  more  ferocious-appearing  than  this, 
and  in  one  instance  I  secured  a  photograph  that  shows  the  bird 
all  puffed  up  like  a  great,  round  ball  of  feathers.  This  picture  I 
will  publish  in  some  other  connection. 

Owls  both  screech  and  hoot,  but  they  likewise  make  a  great 
many  other  kinds  of  notes  and  noises,  some  of  which  are  by  no 
means  unpleasing  to  the  ear.  Nearly  all  of  them  snap  their 
mandibles  together  when  irritated,  an  action  often  followed  by 
hissing  sounds  in  some  species,  with  certain  bobbings  and  nod- 
dings  of  the  head  most  ludicrous  to  behold.  Short-eared  owls,  at 
variance  with  most  all  other  Strigidce,  are  birds  that  frequent  the 
more  open  parts  of  the  country,  are  largely  diurnal  in  habit, 
spend  the  greater  part  of  their  time,  while  not  on  the  wing,  on 
the  ground,  where,  usually  in  April,  this  species  builds  its  nest 
of  grass  in  which  it  lays  from  four  to  seven  eggs.  Small  ro- 
dents, rarely  birds,  constitute  the  food  of  the  Short-eared  owl, 
and  in  so  far  as  man's  interests  are  involved,  the  bird  is  deserv- 
ing of  his  best  protection.  Upon  several  occasions  I  have  shot 
this  species  on  cold  moonlit  winter's  nights,  when  they  flew  low 
over  the  snow  hunting  for  mice.  Two  I  especially  remember 
now  that  I  shot  in  the  winter  of  1872,  near  New  Canaan,  Conn., 
on  such  a  night,  as  they  flew  circling  about  a  great  vacant  field, 
with  not  a  tree  in  it.  Whenever  one  of  the  pair  passed  me  it 
would  rise  higher  in  the  air,  and  give  utterance  to  a  peculiar 
clucking  noise,  probably  prompted  by  its  surprise. 

Of  all  the  owls  in  this  country,  the  biggest  of  body,  and  by 
all  odds  the  most  destructive  and  powerful  is  the  well-known 
Great  Horned  Owl,  called  also  in  certain  localities  the  Cat  or 
Hoot  Owl  (Bubo  virginianus),  a  species  which  has  a  geographical 
range  through  eastern  North  America,  south  to  Costa  Rica. 
Three  subspecific  forms  are  also  known  of  this  bird,  namely,  the 
Western  Horned  Owl  (tt.  r.  Niilmrcticus),  the  Arctic  Horned 
Owl  (B.  r.  arcticus),  and  the  Dusky  Horned  Owl  (B.  v.  xutnnt- 
tus)  of  tin*  Pacific  coast  region.  As  in  the  case  of  the  majority 


OF    THE    UNITED    STATES  239 

of  the  family,  the  female  of  this  species  is  a  far  stronger  bird 
than  the  male,  and  will  doubtless,  when  pressed  by  hunger,  fall 
upon,  kill,  and  eat  him,  as  has  been  noticed  several  times  when 
pairs  of  these  birds  have  been  kept  in  captivity. 

ISTo  known  owl  in  the  world  gets  away  with  more  game,  chick- 
ens and  other  domestic  fowls,  together  with  a  long  list  of  me- 
dium-sized mammals  and  fish,  than  does  this  untamable,  tyran- 
nical, and  blood-thirsty  demon  of  the  night.  They  are  the 
princes  of  nocturnal  raptorical  hunters,  being  keen  of  eye,  power- 
fully equipped  with  merciless  talons,  it  is  the  rarest  thing  that 
they  ever  go  unprovided  with  food,  or  fail  to  amply  supply  their 
big,  down-covered,  voracious  young.  When  the  hunting  is  at  its 
best  these  birds  only  deign  to  eat  the  heads  of  their  victims, 
seeming  to  kill  just  for  the  pleasure  of  the  act. 

The  deep  and  bass-voice  hooting  of  this  species  is  as  familiar 
to  sportsmen  and  bird  lovers,  as  is  the  appearance,  form,  and  size 
of  the  owl  itself.  During  the  winter  of  1882  or  1883  I  pulled  in 
an  open  boat  with  three  companions  forty  miles  down  the  Ala- 
bama river.  It  took  the  best  part  of  the  entire  night,  which  was 
a  pitchy  dark  one,  and  for  nearly  all  the  distance  the  banks  of 
the  river  were  heavily  timbered.  In  some  places  we  were 
obliged  to  pull  under  the  low  sweeping  limbs  of  the  cypress,  from 
which  swung  masses  of  the  moss  called  "'  Spanish  beard."  Every 
once  in  a  while  a  Great  Horned  Owl  would  hoot  out,  and  make 
the  very  forests  echo  with  his  uncanny  cry.  For  some  time  none 
of  these  were  very  near,  but  about  an  hour  after  midnight,  dur- 
ing a  lull,  when  the  party  had  hardly  spoken  a  word  for  a  long 
while,  and  the  boat  was  passing  near  the  bank  in  the  very  deep- 
est of  the  shadows  of  the  night,  one  of  these  ponderous  owls 
gave  full  vent  to  his  unearthly  hoot  from  a  limb  not  ten  feet  di- 
rectly above  our  heads.  Out  it  rang  in  all  its  unchecked  vigor, — 
"  who-who-cooks-for-you — who," — and  the  effect  upon  the  boat's 
company  was  pretty  much  the  same  as  though  a  royal  Bengal 
tiger  had  suddenly  pounced  down  among  us,  and  propounded 
some  similar  impertinent  interrogatory.  This  owl  breeds  in 
hollow  trees,  in  the  deserted  nests  of  the  larger  diurnal  rap- 
tores,  rarely  upon  the  ground  or  in  hollow  logs  upon  the  same, 
and  in  the  clefts  of  rocks,  and  similar  places.  The  set  of  white 
eggs,  of  rounded  oval  form,  usually  numbers  from  two  to  three 
only,  and  they  take  about  twenty-eight  days  to  hatch.  There 
is  a  great  deal  in  the  history  of  this  bird  of  a  very  interesting 


240  CHAPTERS    ON    THE    NATURAL    HISTORY 

nature,  and  much  has  been  recorded  in  type  about  the  species. 
1  have  seen  very  little  of  the  northern  and  western  subspecies, 
but  upon  one  occasion  I  remember,  when  serving  as  post  surgeon 
at  Fort  Fetterman,  many  years  ago,  I  came  suddenly  upon  a 
pair  of  these  birds, — the  Western  Horned  Owl — as  they  simul- 
taneously Hew  out  in  great  haste  from  some  heavy  undergrowth 
upon  a  river's  bank  immediately  below  where  I  stood.  My  sur- 
prise was  so  great  that  I  almost  intuitively  sent  my  gun  to  shoul- 
der, and  cracked  away  at  them, — a  bird  promptly  falling  to  each 
barrel.  Both  the  buff  and  gray  tints  of  their  plumage  were  very 
light  in  color,  and  the  entire  bird  in  these  respects  differed  con- 
siderably from  its  eastern  congener.  Subsequently  I  found  Ihis 
owl  to  be  more  or  less  abundant  in  the  vicinity,  and  always  fat 
and  heavy,  as  the  country  was  full  of  grouse  and  small  game. 

Another  wrell-known  owl  of  this  country  of  which  I  recently 
have  had  an  example  in  captivity,  is  the  Barred  Owl  (tfi/ 
iH'bulosum).  The  specimen  with  another  of  the  same  brood 
captured  near  Washington,  I).  0.,  and,  for  owls,  they  proved  to 
be  very  gentle  and  not  altogether  uninteresting  pets,  differing  in 
the  rirst  particular  very  markedly  as  compared  with  the  young 
Long-eared  Owl.  Photographs  of  this  nestling  Syrnium  were 
made  by  me  with  good  success,  in  a  variety  of  attitudes  and 
characteristic  postures.  Two  of  these  are  reproduced  here. 

In  the  genus  to  which  this  species  belongs,  there  are  also  to  be 
found  a  sub-species  (8.  n.  alleni)  and  the  Spotted  Owl  (ti.  nn-i- 
flctihile) ;  the  first  being  a  coastwise  form,  occurring  from  South 
Carolina  to  Texas,  the  second,  ranging  over  southern  Colorado, 
Xew  Mexico,  Arizona,  the  Calif ornias,  and  Mexico.  Typical 
I  Jarred  owls  occur  in  eastern  United  States,  west  to  Minne- 
sota, and  northward  to  Nova  Scotia. 

To  identify  a  bird  of  this  genus,  we  have  but  to  remember  that 
they  are  large,  bulky  owls,  without  any  feather-horns  whatever, 
and  with  the  irides  of  the  eyes  nearly  Mack,  with  a  bluish  tinge 
in  life.  For  the  rest  they  are  dark  brown  about,  being  barred 
and  spotted  with  buff  and  lighter  color.  The  tail  is  six  to  eight 
handed,  and  the  wings  spotted  and  otherwise  marked.  Below, 
the  parts  are  whitish  or  buffy,  and  are  likewise  barred,  and 
spotted  with  shades  of  brown.  The  young  also  show  much  barr- 
ing in  their  plumage,  as  will  be  appreciated  in  my  photographic 
reproductions  illustrating  the  present  chapter. 

The  female  is  markedly  larger  than  the  male  bird,  exceeding 


FIG.  61.     NESTLING  OF  THE  BARRED  OWL  (Syr-nium  nebulosurn). 

At  the  time  of  leaving  the  nest.     Considerably  reduced,  and  photographed  from  life  by  the  Author. 


OF    THE    UNITED    STATES  243 

it  by  several  inches  in  length:  in  both  the  bill  is  of  a  greenish 
yellow,  being  more  grayish  in  the  young.  Florida  Barred  Owls 
I  found  to  be  very  numerous  in  the  neighborhood  of  New  Orleans, 
La.,  where  in  the  depths  of  the  cypress  swamps  and  bayous,  I 
have  observed  several  in  sight  at  one  time.  Nocturnal  in  habit 
by  preference,  this  species  nevertheless  occasionally  hunts  by 
day,  its  principal  food  being  small  mammals,  some  birds,  frogs, 
fish,  and  snakes;  and  finally  a  varied  list  of  insects  and  other  in- 
vertebrates. Water  is  greatly  relished  by  them,  and  in  captivity 
they  will  frequently  bathe.  Their  notes  are  simply  extraordin- 
ary in  many  particulars,  some  of  them  being  uttered  in  the  day- 
time. They  build,  or  rather  lay  their  eggs  in  holes  in  trees  usu- 
ally, but  sometimes  select  for  the  purpose  an  abandoned  nest  of 
crow  or  hawk.  In  flight  they  are  absolutely  noiseless,  passing 
through  the  air  with  scarcely  any  more  disturbance  than  a  fea- 
ther falling  in  the  same  medium.  Many  years  ago,  I  found  the 
Barred  Owl  very  abundant  in  the  heavy  timber-forests  a  few 
miles  from  Kingston,  New  York,  and  Wilson  in  his  time  found 
them  to  be  very  common  in  the  lower  parts  of  Pennsylvania, 
having  met  with  forty  specimens  in  one  spring.  His  account  of 
the  different  character  of  the  feathers  of  this  species  is  quite  in- 
teresting. 

Another  very  large  owl  that  occurs  in  the  northern  parts  of 
this  country  in  the  winter  time  is  the  Great  Gray  Owl  ( Scotia pte® 
cinerea),  a  visitant  from  the  arctic  realm.  A  subspecies  of  it 
has  accidently  occurred  in  Alaska  (S.  c.  lapponica).  As  yet  we 
have  but  limited  information  in  regard  to  these  two  forms,  and 
any  one  supplying  accurate  accounts  about  them  will  be  doing 
science  a  good  service.  Recently  I  have  obtained  from  Mr.  Al- 
bert Lano  of  Aitkin,  Minnesota,  the  trunk  skeleton  of  S.  cinerea, 
and  this  is  notably  smaller  than  the  same  part  of  the  skeleton  of 
either  the  Snowy  Owl  or  the  Great  Horned  Owl,  yet  the  Great 
Gray  Owl  exceeds  both  of  these  birds  in  length,  the  difference 
being  due  to  the  feathers  and  excessive  development  of  the  plum- 
age in  it. 

This  fact  was  made  the  subject  of  a  letter  from  Mr.  Lano,  and 
oilier  naturalists  have  observed  the  same,  Bendire  remarking 
upon  it  in  his  work.  No  feather-horns  ornament  the  head  in 
Scotiaptar,  and  this  taken  in  connection  with  its  great  size  and 
other  characters  easily  distinguishes  it  from  any  of  the  large 
owls  of  our  avifauna. 


244 


CHAPTERS    ON    THE    NATURAL    HISTORY 


Of  these  latter,  quite  distinct  again  is  the  well-known  SHOWN 
Owl  (\i/ctc(i  Hi/ctcu),  one  of  the  handsomest  of  the  great  boival 


FIG.   62.      LEFT  LATERAL  VIEW    OF  THE  HEAD  OF   A  YOUNG 
BARRED  OWL  (Syrnium  nelmlosum). 

Nearly  natural  size.     Usual  manner  of  posing  the  head  when  regarding  objects  below.     From  a  photo- 
graph from  life  by  the  author.     (Same  bird  as  in  Figure  61.) 

landlords,  occurring  as  it  does  in  all  the  northern  portions  of  the 
northern  hemisphere. 


OF    THE    UNITED    STATES  245 

Wherever  seen,  this  owl  is  sure  to  command  the  attention  of 
the  observer,  be  it  a  mounted  specimen  or  even  a  skin  in  an  orni- 
thological collection,  and  still  more  when  met  with  in  its  wild 
native  haunts.  There  is  no  trouble  in  identifying  the  Snowy  Owl 
under  any  circumstances:  its  great  size,  its  pure  white  plumage 
set  off  with  bars  and  spots  of  slaty  brown,  and  the  absence  of 
feather-horns  are  alone  sufficient  to  render  identification  ^certain. 
The  male  is  smaller  and  much  whiter  than  the  female,  some 
specimens  being  almost  immaculate.  Young  birds  of  this  species 
are  of  a  deep  sooty  grayish  color,  and  like  the  parents  heavily 
feathered  all  over  from  base  of  beak  to  the  claws.  On  the  old 
birds  the  plumage  is  especially  dense  and  generous,  forming  a 
coat  so  warm  that  the  owner  is  capable  of  braving  the  severest 
of  arctic  weather  without  the  slightest  discomfort.  This  bird 
hunts  by  day  and  nests  on  the  ground,  and  seems  to  take  the 
greatest  possible  delight  in  capturing  his  prey.  Swift  of  wing, 
arctic  hares  are  taken  by  it,  almost  invariably  when  attempting 
to  escape  at  the  top  of  their  speed,  and  it  is  said,  doubtless  with 
truth,  that  the  bird  prefers  to  flush  a  ptarmigan  and  pursue  it 
rather  than  pounce  upon  the  squatting  fowl  as  a  Great  Horned 
Owl  would  do.  Wilson  remarks  "  Unlike  most  of  his  tribe,  he 
hunts  by  day  as  well  as  by  twilight,  and  is  particularly  fond  of 
frequenting  the  shores  and  banks  of  shallow  rivers,  over  the  sur- 
face of  which  he  slowly  sails,  or  sits  on  a  rock  a  little  raised 
above  the  water,  watching  for  fish.  These  he  seizes  with  a  sud- 
den and  instantaneous  stroke  of  the  foot,  seldom  missing  his 
aim."  This  owl  is  often  harassed  by  other  birds  during  the  day- 
time as  other  owls  are,  and  early  in  the  60's  I  remembered  having 
seen  one  upon  the  outskirts  of  a  piece  of  pine  forest,  where  a  per- 
fect battalion  of  blue  jays,  and  a  motley  mob  of  some  forty  crows 
were  making  life  miserable  for  him.  His  attackers  were  very 
cautious  however,  and  it  was  quite  possible  that  the  drama 
closed  with  a  tragedy, — the  owl  making  short  work  of  one  or 
more  of  his  corvine  tormentors. 

Among  the  medium-sized  owls  of  the  country  we  have  the 
Hawk  Owls,  and  of  these  there  are  two, — the  European  form 
(8urnia  ulula),  a  casual  in  Alaska,  and  the  American  Hawk  owl 
(8.  u.  caparoch)  confined  to  arctic  America,  and  migrating  only 
in  winter  to  the  northern  boundaries  of  the  United  States.  This 
is  a  dark-colored  bird  (black  and  brownish)  with  spots  and  mot- 
lings  on  the  wings,  and  bars  on  its  long  tail.  There  are  no  fea- 


24G  CHAPTERS    ON    THE    NATURAL    HISTORY 

ther-horns,  and  in  habit  the  species  is  a  diurnal  one.  Much  in  its 
history,  so  far  as  at  present  known,  is  extremely  interesting,  and 
for  what  we  have  of  it  we  are  chiefly  indebted  to  our  northern 
explorers.  Sometimes  they  build  a  nest  of  their  own  or  they  may 
simply  deposit  their  eggs,  from  six  to  seven  in  number,  in  the 
hollow  stump  of  a  tree,  without  making  any  nest  whatever. 
They  are  fearless  in  the  defense  of  their  young  or  eggs,  and  will 
attack  a  man  without  hesitation  if  molestation  on  his  part  be 
attempted.  The  bird  is  easily  captured,  even  in  some  rare  cases 
by  the  hand  alone.  In  the  Yukon  district,  Turner  approached 
within  six  feet  of  one  sitting  on  a  post,  and  only  induced 
it  to  fly  after  loud  shouting  and  throwing  a  stick  at  it; 
while  Dall,  when  engaged  in  taking  a  set  of  its  eggs  in 
Alaska,  had  his  cap  knocked  off  his  head  by  the  bird  making  a 
fierce  dash  at  him.  Hawk  owls  prey  upon  small  mammals, 
rarely  birds,  and  insects.  Science  stands  in  need  of  a  fuller  his- 
tory of  this  species. 

Apart  from  those  thus  far  referred  to,  all  the  remaining  species 
and  subspecies  of  owls  in  this  country  are  comparatively  small 
forms,  and  more  or  less  numerous  in  kind.  Some  of  them  are  the 
veriest  pigmies  of  the  family  with  histories  that  even  the  most 
indifferent  student  of  bird-life  among  us  must  read  with  pleas- 
ure and  entertainment. 

Saw- whet  Owls  are  rather  small  of  size,  ranging  from  seven 
and  a  quarter  inches  in  length  to  twelve,  being  without  feather- 
horns,  brown  in  color  above,  more  or  less  white-spotted,  and 
white  on  the  under  parts,  where  they  are  striped  with  brown. 
In  the  northern  part  of  the  country  we  meet  with,  in  the  winter- 
time, Richardson's  Owl  (Nyctala  tengmalmi  richardsoni),  but  the 
host  known  species  of  the  genus  with  us,  is  the  common  Saw- 
whot  Owl  (N.  acadica),  which  inhabits  North  America  at  large, 
and  in  the  western  mountain  ranges  passes  south  into  Mexico. 

The  bird  gains  its  name  from  its  note,  which  resembles  the 
filing  of  a  saw,  and  this  is  not  difficult  to  imitate  and  thus  lure 
the  performer  thereby,  making  its  capture  an  easy  matter.  In 
the  woods  they  are  wonderfully  tame  and  unsuspicious,  allowing 
themselves  to  be  stroked  by  the  hand  as  they  sleepily  roost  upon 
their  perches.  This  has  been  accomplished  by  numerous  orni- 
thologists in  the  field,  and  many  specimens  have  thus  been  taken 
alive.  They  prey  principally  upon  moles  and  mice,  and  other 
small  animals,  and  are  extremely  useful  in  aiding  to  check  the 
undue  increase  of  such  forms  in  nature. 


OF  THE  UNITED  STATES  247 

But  the  Burrowing  Owls  of  the  western  plains  and  southern 
Florida  (Speotyto  cunicularia  Tiypogcea  and  8.  c.  floridana)  are 
probably  the  greatest  enemies  that  the  rodents  of  the  region  in 
which  they  live  have  among  all  the  birds  of  this  family.  In  fact 
the  Burrowing  Owl  of  the  west  actually  takes  up  its  camp  direct- 
ly upon  the  ground  where  its  principal  prey  lives  in  communities, 
and  it,  with  its  voracious  young,  absolutely  kill  and  consume 
thousands  of  various  species  of  terrestrial  squirrels  every  year, 
such  as  prairie  dogs,  spermophiles,  and  chipmunks,  to  say  noth- 
ing about  the  gophers,  mice,  snakes,  the  destructive  black  crick- 
ets, and  many  other  kinds  that  constitute  their  prey.  Bendire, 
who,  in  my  opinion,  has  written  the  best  account  of  the  life  his- 
tory of  this  owl  now  extant,  has  proved  that  each  individual 
bird  will  eat  fully  its  own  weight,  or  more,  in  food  of  the  above 
character  every  twenty-four  hours,  and  his  work  upon  the  birds 
of  this  genus  will  have  more  to  do  with  contradicting  the  ridic- 
ulous stories  about  the  happy  and  harmonious  living  together 
of  rattlesnakes,  prairie  dogs,  and  owls  in  the  burrows  of  the  dogs, 
than  anything  that  has  appeared  in  print.  During  the  time  I  was 
collecting  my  material  in  the  west  for  a  complete  account  of  the 
anatomy  of  this  owl,  I  had  abundant  opportunity  for  over  five 
years  to  study  Speotyto  every  day,  and  I  can  attest  to  the  excel- 
lence of  his  work  and  the  truthfulness  of  his  statements. 

Passing  to  the  Screech  Owls  of  the  genus  Meyascops  we  find 
them  represented  by  no  less  than  two  species  and  nine  sub- 
species, with  the  group  through  these  occurring  in  suitable  lo- 
calities in  every  part  of  North  America.  These  owls  are  so  well 
known  in  nearly  all  particulars  to  those  who  take  any  interest 
in  birds  whatever,  that  descriptions  here  would  be  quite  super- 
fluous. What  the  ornithologist  still  demands  fuller  information 
about  however,  is  the  cause  of  the  distinct  variation  in  the  plum- 
age of  the  members  of  this  genus.  There  are  two  well-marked 
phases  of  this,  the  rufous  and  the  gray,  and  it  is  not  at  present 
understood  to  what  these  differences  are  due.  Hence  Screech 
Owls  are  likewise  called  Mottled,  Ked,  or  Gray  Owls,  depending 
upon  the  phase  of  plumage  they  happen  to  be  in  at  the  time. 
The  very  young  nestlings  are  white,  resembling  little  puff-balls 
of  down.  Speaking  of  Screech  owls  reminds  me  of  a  curious 
incident  in  regard  to  one  of  them  that  occurred  within  my  own 
personal  experience.  At  the  time  referred  to,  I  was  not  more 
than  fourteen  or  fifteen  years  of  age,  and  my  entire  spare  time 


248  CHAPTERS    ON    THE    NATURAL    HISTORY 

was  given  over  to  making  a  collection  of  birds  of  the  neighbor- 
hood where  my  parents  lived.  Frequently  I  was  up  long  before 
daylight  and  out  in  the  field  or  forest,  and  sometimes  did  not. 
return  home  until  eight  or  nine  o'clock  in  the  evening.  Upon 
one  of  these  latter  occasions,  and  when  within  a  very  short  dis- 
tance of  the  house,  I  shot  at  a  Screech  owl  in  a  neighbor's  apple 
tree.  It  fell  in  the  soft  snow  that  had  fallen  during  the  day,  and 
as  I  picked  its  apparently  lifeless  body  up,  I  saw  that  it  was  one 
of  the  rufous-plumaged  varieties.  My  specimen  was  at  once  con- 
signed to  a  pocket  in  my  gunning-coat,  and  I  hastened  home  in 
order  to  be  present  at  family  prayers  in  the  evening,  as  my  good 
mother  desired  this,  in  order  not  to  offend  my  reverend  uncle, 
who  was  a  very  distinguished  man  in  the  Episcopal  faith,  and  a 
guest  with  us  at  the  time.  His  aged  mother,  my  grandmother, 
was  also  with  us,  and  she  was  an  extremely  devout  old  lady 
indeed,  too,  and  invariably  frowned  upon  any  member  of  the 
family  that  failed  to  appear  promptly  at  evening  prayers.  As  I 
hastily  entered  the  dining-room  I  realized  at  once  that  I  had 
earned  a  black  mark  in  my  grandmother's  estimation,  as  the 
entire  family — brothers,  aunts,  guests  and  all,  were  down  kneel- 
ing at  the  chairs,  and  uncle  was  apparently  half  way  through  the 
service  of  the  hour.  Hastily  slipping  on  my  wrapper,  and  tossing 
my  gunning-coat  upon  a  sofa  in  the  corner  of  the  room  where 
they  were  assembled,  I,  too,  as  quietly  as  possible  knelt  at  my 
chair,  and  this  latter  happened  to  be  so  placed  that  I  could  see 
my  coat  where  I  had  laid  it.  Uncle  prayed  long  and  well,  and 
had  a  way  of  pausing,  for  a  moment  or  more,  between  his  sen- 
tences. During  one  of  these  periods  of  deathly  silence,  I  noticed 
a  peculiar  movement  of  my  gunning-coat,  that  soon  became  more 
and  more  vigorous,  to  terminate  in  the  sudden  emergence  of  my 
owl,  who,  having  at  last  mastered  the  mysteries  of  the  abnormal 
cavity  he  was  in,  bounced  out  to  sit  bolt  upright  upon  the  gar- 
ment. Angrily  he  clicked  his  mandibles;  wildly  he  stared  about 
the  room;  and  politely  he  ducked  his  head  to  every  one  present 
there.  But  clickings,  bows,  and  stares  were  all  lost,  save  upon 
myself  and  two  brothers,  who  likewise  had  caught  sight  of  his 
resurrected  owlship,  and  were  doing  their  best  to  smother  their 
laughter.  Uncle's  mind  as  well  as  those  of  the  ladies  were  far, 
far  off  in  the  regions  of  space.  The  owl  had  evidently  never  seen 
anything  like  this  before,  human  or  otherwise,  and  having  suf- 
ficiently recovered  his  senses,  and  the  knockdown  he  had  gotten 


OF    THE    UNITED    STATES  249 

from  my  shot,  lie,  as  noiselessly  as  a  puff  of  smoke,  sailed  thrice 
about  the  room,  to  alight  upon  an  unlit  burner  of  the  gas-chan- 
delier overhead.  Not  satisfied  with  this  performance  however, 
nor  the  misery  myself  and  brothers  were  in  to  keep  silent,  he 
quickly  essayed  another  aerial  survey,  and  that  not  a  lofty  one, 
but,  to  my  horror,  low  down  and  close  to  the  kneelers.  Having 
taken  in  the  situation  to  his  satisfaction,  he  was  evidently"  rolling 
round  in  his  mind  where  he  would  alight  a  second  time.  This  to 
my  infinite  concern,  and  much  distorted  feelings,  he  soon  settled, 
for  with  a  lightness  that  none  but  an  owl  can  equal,  he  gracefully 
lit  upon  the  thin  white  cambric  cap  that  ornamented  my  grand- 
mother's head.  Instantly  her  hand  was  carried  there  to  discover 
the  cause  of  the  unusual  interruption,  and  this  movement,  so  un- 
expected, nearly  frightened  the  owl  into  fits.  AYhat  followed  all 
happened  within  a  second  or  two.  The  owl  could  not  clear  his 
sharp  little  talons  from  the  head-dress,  so  he,  with  all  his  might, 
drove  their  eight  needle-like  points  firmly  into  grandma's  scalp. 
Tncle  was  in  one  of  his  long,  most  devout  pauses,  when  the  un- 
earthly shriek  burst  upon  the  silence  of  the  room,  mingled  as  it 
was  with  the  brutal  outburst  of  long  suppressed  merriment  of 
my  brothers  and,  the  funniest  of  all,  the  peculiar  Indian-like 
yell  that  my  uncle  let  loose,  which  of  itself  was  sufficient  to  break 
up  the  entire  meeting. 

In  the  west  and  southwest  we  meet  with  the  most  engaging 
members  of  the  whole  family  StriflidiBj  I  refer  to  the  little  Pygmy 
and  Elf  owls.  They  belong  to  the  genera  Glaucidiuin  and  Micro- 
l><fUd$< — three  species  and  a  subspecies  in  the  first,  and  a  single 
species  in  the  second.  Some  of  these  are  no  bigger  than  spar- 
rows, and  have  wonderfully  interesting  habits  and  history,  but 
accounts  of  these  would  far  exceed  the  limitations  of  the  present 
chapter. 


CHAPTER  XVIII. 

THE  CAROLINA  PAROQUET  AND  OTHER  NOTES. 

(Conurus  carolinensis.) 

E  have  but  one  species  of  paroquet  iu  the  avifauna  of 
the  United  States — the  pretty  little  green  Carolina 
paroquet,  with  its  red  and  yellow  head.  Formerly 
this  bird  had  a  very  general  distribution  all  over  the 
eastern  part  of  the  country,  from  Texas  and  Colorado  to  the  At- 
lantic coast  line.  It  is  at  the  present  time,  however,  nearly  ex- 
tinct, being  confined  to  extremely  local  areas  in  Florida,  Indian 
Territory,  and  Arkansas. 

This  killing  off  of  one  of  our  most  beautiful  birds  has  been  al- 
most entirely  due  to  man's  agency,  and  in  a  few  years  more  not  a 
living  specimen  of  this  species  will  be  in  existence.  It  seems 
quite  incredible  that  this  slaughter  should  have  occurred  in  so 
short  a  space  of  time,  especially  when  one  comes  to  read  of  its 
great  former  abundance  in  the  very  interesting  account  left  us 
by  Wilson  and  others.  Not  long  ago  a  beautiful  pair  (  $  and  9  ) 
of  those  paroquets  came  into  ithe  possession  of  Edward  T. 
Schmid,  the  proprietor  of  the  well-known  bird  emporium  of 
Washington,  P.  C.,  who,  with  marked  generosity,  permitted  me  to 
take  them  out  to  my  home  for  the  purpose  of  making  photo- 
graphs of  them.  The  birds  were  in  beautiful  plumage,  fine 
health,  and  in  full  possession  of  their  powers  of  flight.  After 
studying  their  cage  habits  for  a  few  days,  I  made  my  prepara- 
tions to  take  their  pictures. 

In  life  these  paroquets  are  extremely  fond  of  the  seeds  of  ilie 
plant  commonly  known  as  the  cocklebur  (Xanthlum  strunmrium. 
Linn.),  and  I  was  determined  to  secure  my  photographs  with  the 
birds  shown  upon  a  specimen  of  it.  Without  much  difficulty  ex- 
amples were  found  growing  in  vacant  lots  about  Washington, 
and  a  good  big  bunch  brought  to  my  studio.  At  the  outstarl, 
however,  I  had  no  idea  of  the  trouble  that  was  before  me  ere  I 
succeeded  in  securing  even  a  passable  picture  of  these  birds. 
But  my  stock  of  patience  is  great,  and  my  enthusiasm  unlimited, 
when  the  subject  happens  to  be  a  form  so  near  extinction  as  is 
this  bird.  There  is  a  certain  fascination  that  irresistibly  con- 
trols the  student  of  nature  when  he  appreciates  the  fact  that  he 


FIG.  63.     CAROLINA  PAROQUET  (Conurus  carolinensis). 

Two-tliirds  natural  size.    From  a  photograph  from  life  by  the  Author. 


OF    THE    UNITED    STATES  253 

is  engaged  upon  the  task  of  making  a  photographic  picture  of  a 
form,  living  examples  of  which  will  cease  to  be  within  possibly 
the  span  of  his  own  lifetime.  There  are  not  a  few  hand  paintings 
or  drawings  of  the  Carolina  paroquet  extant,  but  I  very  much 
doubt  that  anyone  has,  as  yet,  'made  and  published  photographs 
of  them;  certainly  not  as  they  have  been  perched  upon  twigs  of 
Ihe  Xanthium. 

Upon  taking  the  cage  containing  these  birds  into  the  room 
prepared  for  my  work,  they  exhibited  a  very  considerable  amount 
of  restlessness,  and  when  they  came  to  understand  that  I  in- 
tended to  let  them  out,  they  at  once  showed  a  high  degree  of  ex- 
citement. Screaming  hardly  expresses  the  nature  of  their  pene- 
trating notes,  that  could  easily  be  heard  a  square  away.  After 
receiving  several  severe  bites  through  the  fingers  of  a  thick  pair 
of  gloves,  wherewith  I  had  undertaken  to  protect  my  hands,  they 
were  finally  turned  loose  in  the  room.  Here  they  flew  about  in 
the  wildest  possible  manner,  despite  all  my  efforts  to  quiet  them 
down;  alighting  on  the  tops  of  the  window  curtains,  the  camera, 
and  even  my  own  person,  and  were  not  content  until  they  had 
knocked  over  the  stand  containing  the  bunch  of  cockleburs. 
Next — whang!  they  both  flew  against  the  big  window  pane,  and 
then  down  on  the  floor,  only  to  waddle  off  and  try  to  climb  up  the 
legs  of  my  tripod. 

Quietly  putting  things  to  rights  again,  I  waited  in  patience 
for  a  subsidence  of  their  excitement,  when  to  my  intense  satis- 
faction they  both  flew  from  the  top  of  the  door  and  lit  on  the 
cockleburs,  as  I  wranted  them.  Here  was  new  trouble  for  me, 
however,  for  the  presence  of  their  favorite  food  set  them  off 
again,  and  I  thought  they  would  pull  off  every  single  seed  pod  be- 
fore I  could  get  a  snap  on  them.  Trial  after  trial  was  now  made 
without  success,  and  three  or  four  hours  had  passed  without  a 
good  result,  and,  as  the  light  was  going  fast,  I  determined  to  try 
a  single  bird,  rather  than  not  have  anything.  The  result  of  this 
attempt  is  reproduced  as  an  illustration  to  the  present  chapter, 
and  it  gives  a  very  good  idea  of  the  form  of  our  Conurus.  To  get 
the  brilliant  red  and  yellow  of  the  head  and  the  bright  green 
body  is  of  course  out  of  the  question  in  a  photograph.  What 
may  be  done  in  this  way  in  years  to  come  is  another  matter,  and 
one  of  the  problems  for  solution  by  the  photographer  of  the 
future. 

The  following  two  or  three  days  were  cloudy,  and  so  my  plans 


•  v  ::•':%.« 

254  CHAPTERS    ON    THE    NATURAL    HISTORY 

to  make  more  trials  were  frustrated.  The  price  of  the  birds  ($20), 
too,  had  a  soothing  effect  upon  my  shallow  purse;  for,  to  tell  the 
truth,  I  felt  terribly  like  photographing  this  pair  of  pretty  little 
green  rascals  with  iny  shotgun,  upon  more  occasions  than  one. 
As  it  was  they  were  returned  to  their  owner  at  an  unfortunate 
time,  for  a  number  of  his  cages  had  been  repainted,  and  to  one  of 
these  the  paroquets  were  consigned.  During  the  night  they  botii 
nibbled  off  a  quantity  of  the  fresh  paint,  which  proved  a  fatal 
dose. 

A  number  of  years  ago  I  published  in  London  an  account  of 
the  skeleton  of  this  paroquet,  illustrating  my  work  with  litho- 
graphic plates;  but  so  far  as  1  know,  the  other  systems  of  its  an- 
atomy have  not  been  touched  upon.  It  is  not  likely,  of  course, 
that  its  structure  departs  very  much  from  other  representatives 
of  the  genus;  still,  this  supposition  should  have  no  weight,  and 
its  anatomy  should  be  fully  described  ere  the  species  becomes 
totally  extinct.  There  have  frequently  been  morphological  sur- 
prises, even  in  closely  allied  forms,  and  to  this  our  Carolina  paro- 
quet may  otter  no  exception.  As  usual,  only  skins  were  made  of 
this  pair,  and  "  the  characters  thrown  away."  Many  skins  of 
the  form  are  now  to  be  found  in  museums,  and  perhaps  a  few 
alcoholic  specimens  are  in  existence. 

It  is  exceedingly  interesting  to  read  the  admirable  account  of 
this  species  left  us  by  Wilson,  to  whom  the  bird  was  also  known 
as  the  "  Illinois  Parrot."  He  writes  without  a  shadow  of  sus- 
picion as  to  the  utter  extinction  that  awaited  the  species  in  our 
time.  He  speaks  of  it  as  being  resident  as  far  west  as  he  knew 
the  country,  and  as  far  north  in  one  direction  as  Lake  Michigan, 
adding,"  from  these  circumstances  of  the  northern  residence  of 
this  species,  we  might  be  justified  in  concluding  it  to  be  a  very 
hardy  bird,  more  capable  of  sustaining  cold  than  nine-tenths  of  its 
tribe;  and  so  I  believe  it  is, — having  myself  seen  them,  in  the 
month  of  February,  along  the  banks  of  the  Ohio,  in  a  snowstorm, 
flying  about  like  pigeons,  and  in  full  cry."  WTilson  also  very  viv- 
idly describes  the  immense  flocks  of  them  he  met  with  at  I»ig 
Bone  Lick  in  Kentucky,  where,  when  "  they  alighted  on  the 
ground,  it  appeared  at  a  distance  as  if  covered  with  a  carpet  of 
the  richest  green,  orange,  and  yellow."  Their  beautiful,  swift, and 
graceful  flight  he  refers  to  with  great  truthfulness;  and  speaking 
of  this  reminds  me  of  what  Mr.  Robert  Ridgway,  the  ornitholo- 
gist, told  me  not  very  long  ago.  He  had  met  with  a  flock  of  these 


OF    THE    UNITED    STATES  255 

paroquets  in  a  certain  locality  in  Florida,  during  a  visit  in  the 
winter  of  1896-97.  While  standing  in  thickish  cover,  near  a  small 
sheet  of  clear  spring  water,  the  flock  of  birds  dashed  in  to  drink. 
This  they  accomplished  by  all  hovering  together  over  the  surface 
of  the  spring.  The  sun  at  the  time  shown  in  directly  upon  them, 
and,  as  Mr.  Kidgway  says,  with  the  effect  of  not  only  reflecting 
the  beautiful  picture  of  these  elegant  forms  into  the  water,  over 
which  they  gracefully  sustained  themselves  en  masse,  while  they 
drank  of  it,  but  at  the  same  time  enhanced  to  a  marvelous  de- 
gree the  exquisite  tints  of  the  birds  themselves. 

Personally,  I  have  seen  this  paroquet  alive  in  a  wild  state  only 
a  few  times.  Once,  I  saw  a  single  specimen  in  a  cornfield  in  the 
eastern  part  of  the  State  of  Kansas.  It  was  early  in  the  80's. 
I  have,  up  to  the  present  time,  never  collected  the  bird. 

Further  on  in  his  account  Wilson  says  "  they  are  particularly 
attached  to  the  large  sycamores,  in  the  hollow  of  the  trunks  and 
branches  of  which  they  generally  roost,  thirty  or  forty,  and  some- 
times more,  entering  at  the  same  hole.  Here  they  cling  close  to 
the  sides  of  the  tree,  holding  fast  by  the  claws  and  also  by  the 
bills.  They  appear  to  be  fond  of  sleep,  and  often  retire  to  their 
holes  during  the  day,  probably  to  take  their  regular  siesta.  They 
are  extremely  sociable,  and  fond  of  each  other,  often  scratching 
each  other's  heads  and  necks,  and  always,  at  night,  nestling  as 
close  as  possible  to  each  other,  preferring,  at  that  time,  a  perpen- 
dicular position,  supported  by  their  bill  and  claws."  This  nest- 
ling as  close  together  as  possible  while  in  the  hollow  trunk  of  a 
tree,  I  purposely  quote,  because  we  find  in  the  Ornithological 
Hall  of  the  Smithsonian  Institution  a  large  hollow  trunk  of  a 
tree,  in  the  inside  of  which  a  number  of  mounted  specimens  of 
the  Carolina  paroquet  have  been  placed,  clinging  to  the  inner 
surface  in  the  manner  described  by  Wilson,  with  the  exception 
that  the  individuals  have  been  suspended  at  very  unsociable  dis- 
tances apart,  something,  I  am  quite  sure,  these  birds  would  never 
have  been  guilty  of  in  a  state  of  nature. 

When  these  paroquets  were  plenty  in  this  country  a  very  gen- 
eral opinion  prevailed  that  their  heads  and  intestines,  if  eaten 
by  cats,  would  surely  prove  fatal  to  them.  This  was  universally 
said  to  be  because  the  cockleburs  upon  which  the  birds  so  com- 
monly fed  would  invariably  act  as  a  fatal  poison  to  the  afore- 
said felines.  Wilson  tried  many  times  to  prove  or  disprove  the 
truth  of  this  statement,  but  usually  some  trivial  circumstance 


256  CHAPTERS    ON    THE    NATURAL    HISTORY 

stood  in  the  way  of  his  success.  Either  the  cat  could  not  be  se- 
cured at  the  time,  or  the  paroquet  had  not  been  feeding  upon 
cockleburs,  or  something  else  of  the  kind.  After  a  long  talk 
upon  the  subject  he  closes  by  saying,  "  Since  the  foregoing  was 
written,  I  have  had  an  opportunity,  by  the  death  of  a  tame  Caro- 
lina paroquet,  to  ascertain  the  fact  of  the  poisonous  effects  of 
their  head  and  intestines  on  cats.  Having  shut  up  a  cat  and  her 
two  kittens,  the  latter  only  a  few  days  old,  in  a  room  with  the 
head,  neck,  and  whole  intestines  of  the  Paroquet,  I  found,  on  the 
next  morning,  the  whole  eaten,  except  a  small  part  of  the  bill. 
The  cat  exhibited  no  symptom  of  sickness;  and,  at  this  moment, 
three  days  after  the  experiment  has  been  made,  she  and  her 
kittens  are  in  their  usual  health.  Still,  however,  the  effect  might 
have  been  different  had  the  daily  food  of  the  bird  been  cockle- 
burs  instead  of  Indian  corn."  From  this,  I  think  it  is  clear  that 
Wilson  never  did  quite  satisfy  himself  upon  this  point,  or  if  he 
did,  he  never  published  the  fact.  He  did  seem  to  prove,  how- 
ever, that  while  using  their  feet  in  feeding,  some  of  these  birds 
were  naturally  left-footed,  as  it  were,  as  others  were  invariably 
right-footed. 

Bendire,  in  his  Life  Histories  of  North  American  Birds,  has  left 
us  an  excellent  contribution  to  the  natural  history  of  this  species. 
In  that  account  we  read  that  formerly  when  the  birds  were  ex- 
tremely abundant  in  Florida,  a  reliable  observer  there  "  used  to 
find  them  breeding  in  large  colonies  in  the  cypress  swamps.  Sev- 
eral of  these  colonies  contained  at  least  a  thousand  birds  each. 
They  nested  invariably  in  small  cypress  trees,  the  favorite  posi- 
tion being  on  a  fork  near  the  end  of  a  slender  branch.  Every 
such  fork  would  be  occupied,  and  he  has  seen  as  many  as  forty 
or  fifty  nests  in  one  small  tree.  Their  nests  closely  resembled 
those  of  the  Carolina  dove,  being  similarly  composed  of  cypress 
twigs  put  together  so  loosely  that  the  eggs  were  often  visible 
from  the  ground  beneath.  The  twigs  of  the  cypress  seemed  to 
be  preferred  to  those  of  any  other  kind  of  tree.  The  height  at 
which  the  nests  were  placed  varied  from  5  or  6  feet  to  20  or  30 
feet." 

The  eggs  were  described  by  this  observer  "  as  being  of  a  green- 
ish-white color,  unspotted.  He  did  not  remember  the  maximum 
number  which  he  had  found  in  one  set,  but  thought  it  was  at 
least  four  or  five.  He  had  often  taken  young  birds  from  the 
nests  to  rear  or  to  give  to  his  friends."  To  this  Bendire  adds  the 


OF  THE  UNITED  STATES  257 

remarkable  statement  that  "  We  have  no  positive  information 
about  the  number  of  eggs  laid  by  this  species  in  a  wild  state. 
.  .  .  Mr.  Robert  Ridgway's  birds  would  not  use  the  nest- 
ing boxes  provided  for  them,  and  both  females  deposited  their 
eggs  on  the  floor  of  the  cage ;  they  were  laid  in  July,  August,  and 
September,  respectively/  None  of  these  eggs  can  be  called  round; 
they  vary  from  ovate  to  short  ovate,  and  are  rather  pointed. 
They  are  white,  with  the  faintest  yellowish  tint,  ivory-like  and 
quite  glossy;  the  shell  is  rather  thick,  close  grained,  and  deeply 
pitted,  not  unlike  the  eggs  of  the  African  Ostrich  (Struthio- 
camelus),  but  of  course  not  as  noticeable.  Holding  the  egg  in  a 
strong  light,  the  inside  appears  to  be  pale  yellow."  Bendire  suc- 
ceeded in  getting  together  very  considerable  information  in  re- 
gard to  this  species,  and,  with  others  in  his  work,  printed  the 
usual  prediction  that  "  the  total  extermination  of  the  Carolina 
paroquet  is  only  a  question  of  a  few  more  years,  and  the  end  of 
the  present  century  will  probably  mark  their  disappearance." 

It  may  be  safely  predicted  that  all  birds  all  over  the  world  are 
upon  the  road  toward  extinction,  but  some  are  very  much  nearer 
to  that  fate  than  are  others.  Besides  the  Carolina  paroquet  in 
this  country,  the  Roseate  spoonbills  (Ajaja  ajaja)  are  nearly  gone, 
and  so  are  some  of  the  other  waders.  Wild  turkeys  and  many 
other  game  birds  are  rapidly  being  shot  out,  and  the  Passenger 
pigeon  (Ectopistes)  is  now  rare  where  it  formerly  existed  in  mill- 
ions. Skins  of  the  California  vulture  (Pseudogryphus  califor- 
nianus)  will  fetch  f  100  each,  and  so  does  an  egg  of  the  same 
species,  while  some  of  the  raptorial  birds  are  becoming  very 
scarce.  Ivory-billed  woodpeckers  are  nearly  gone,  and  the  Pile- 
ated  woodpecker  will  doubtless  meet  with  the  same  fate  later  on, 
while  every  now  and  then  we  hear  of  the  threatened  extinction  of 
even  some  of  the  smaller  passerine  types,  as  occurred  not  long 
ago  in  the  case  of  the  bluebird. 

But  we  must  not  carry  our  paragraphs  here  into  the  realms  of 
philosophy,  and  be  tempted  to  draw  pictures  in  futurity,  of  times 
when  there  may  be  nothing  remaining  save  man  and  the  English 
sparrows,  with  all  that  remains  of  our  forests  converted  into 
fancy  parks  and  preserves. 

So  much  for  what  I  have  to  say  about  the  present  status  and 
probable  extinction  of  the  Carolina  paroquet,  but  it  is  believed  by 
not  a  few  that  we  have  within  the  boundaries  of  the  United 
States  still  another  representative  of  the  family  Psittacidw,  or 


258  CHAPTERS    ON    THE    NATURAL    HISTORY 

parrots.  This  is  the  Thick-billed  Parrot  (Rhynchopsitta  pachy- 
rhyncha).  On  page  330  of  the  1895  edition  of  the  A.  O.  U.  Check 
List,  in  the  ''hypothetical  list"  of  species,  we  find  this  form  there 
recorded,  with  the  somewhat  remarkable  statement  beneath  it, 
to  the  effect  that  "  There  is  said  [sic]  to  be  a  specimen  in  "  the 
collection  of  the  Philadelphia  Academy  of  Natural  Sciences, 
labeled  Eio  Grande,  Texas,  J.  W.  Audubon,  "but  there  is  doubt 
as  to  whether  the  specimen  was  really  taken  within  the  limits  of 
the  United  States.  Its  occurrence  in  Texas  is  not  improbable, 
but  the  evidence  is  unsatisfactory." 

Judging  from  the  name  of  the  collector,  I  should  think  the 
evidence  might  be  both  unsatisfactory  as  well  as  unreliable,  as  the 
compilers  of  the  aforesaid  A.  O.  U.  Check  List  candidly  aver.  In 
reference  to  the  occurrence  of  this  species  within  the  boundaries 
of  this  country,  I  would  further  say  that  my  attention  has  been 
called  to  what  Mr.  Eobert  Kidgway  says  on  page  269  of  his  1887 
edition  of  A  Manual  of  North  American  Birds,  where  that  eminent 
ornithologist  states  that  the  species  occurs  in  "  southwestern 
Texas  and  southern  New  Mexico."  A  footnote  to  this  goes  to 
show  that  from  a  letter  of  mine  written  to  Mr.  Kidgway,  I  am 
held  accountable  for  its  having  been  seen  in  New  Mexico.  The 
words  of  the  letter  are  not  given,  nor  do  I  fully  recall  them,  but 
I  do  know  that  personally  I  never  saw  the  Thick-billed  parrot  in 
New  Mexico.  What  I  wrote  was  to  the  effect  that,  while  serving 
at  Fort  Wingate,  New  Mexico  (1884-89),  there  was  at  one  time  a 
necessity  to  send  a  troop  of  cavalry  into  southern  New  Mexico, 
and  Captain  Kendall,  of  the  6th  Cavalry,  was  detailed  to  the 
duty.  On  the  return  of  that  officer,  he  informed  me  that  one 
morning,  when  at  some  considerable  distance  north  of  the  Mexi- 
can boundary,  he  was,  while  laying  in  his  tent,  greatly  disturbed 
by  the  "  infernal  noise  "  created  by  a  flock  of  parrots,  that  had 
"  great,  big  bills,"  and  which  nearly  covered  a  tree  in  the  imme- 
diate vicinity  of  his  camp.  This  is  the  only  report  of  the  kind 
that  came  to  me  during  my  entire  stay  in  New  Mexico.  Captain 
Kendall  knew  practically  nothing  of  ornithology,  nor  had  I  told 
him  anything  about  the  parrot  in  question  before  his  leaving, 
the  information  coming  wholly  unsolicited  from  him  upon  his  re- 
turn to  the  Fort.  I  should  have  attributed  the  report  to  the 
Captain's  having  seen  a  flock  of  Groove-billed  ani  (Crotophaga 
sulcirostris)  had  he  not  been  so  positive  about  their  being  par- 
rots, with  big  bills,  with  green  bodies,  with  red  on  their  heads. 


OF    THE    UNITED    STATES  259 

He  even  testified  to  the  fact  that  he  left  his  tent  and  went  over 
to  the  tree  to  look  at  them. 

Professor  Alfred  Newton,  F.R.S.,  in  his  very  excellent  Diction- 
ary of  Birds,  concludes  his  article  "  Parrot "  (pt.  iii,  p.  691)  with 
the  following  statement :  "  Considering  the  abundance  of  Parrots 
both  as  species  and  individuals,  and  their  wide  extent  oyer  the 
globe,  it  is  surprising  how  little  is  known  of  their  habits  in  a  wild 
state.  Even  the  species  with  which  Englishmen  and  their  de- 
scendants have  been  more  in  contact  than  any  other  has  an  al- 
most unwritten  history,  compared  with  that  of  many  other  birds ; 
and,  seeing  how  many  are  oppressed  by  and  yielding  to  man's 
occupation  of  their  ancient  haunts,  the  extirpation  of  some  is 
certain,  and  will  probably  be  accomplished  before  several  inter- 
esting and  some  disputed  points  in  their  economy  have  been  de- 
cided. The  experience  of  small  islands  only  foreshadows  what 
will  happen  in  tracts  of  greater  extent,  though  there  more  time  is 
required  to  produce  the  same  result;  but,  the  result  being  in- 
evitable, those  who  are  favorably  placed  for  observations  should 
neglect  no  opportunities  of  making  them  ere  it  be  too  late." 

A  number  of  fine  monographs  have  been  devoted  to  this  very 
thoroughly  isolated  group  of  birds,  and  much  has  also  been  writ- 
ten upon  their  anatomy,  habits,  and  distribution,  with  schemes 
for  their  classification,  yet  a  great  deal  remains,  as  Professor 
Newton  remarks,  to  be  said  about  them. 


CHAPTER  XIX. 

THE    UNITED    STATES    CUCKOOS. 

(Family  Cuculidce). 

UCKOOS  of  one  kind  or  another  are  found  in  nearly  all 
parts  of  the  world,  and,  taken  as  a  group,  it  is  one  that 
possesses  especial  interest  for  the  ornithologist.  It 
is  but  a  fairly  well  circumscribed  family,  containing 
as  it  does  at  least  a  few  somewhat  aberrant  forms.  Within  the 
family,  cuckoos  very  widely  differ,  not  only  in  structure  and  gen- 
eral appearance,  but  in  their  habits  of  life,  nidification,  and  affini- 
ties. If  what  we  know  of  them  were  collected  together  it  would 
make  a  very  large  volume  indeed ;  but  if  on  the  other  hand,  could 
be  printed  what  we  do  not  know  about  them,  quite  a  good 
sized  library  would  be  the  result.  Even  in  the  case  of  the  one 
species,  the  well-known  Old  World  Cuckoo  (Cuculus  canorus)  the 
learned  British  ornithologist  Newton  has  said :  "  No  single  bird 
has  perhaps  so  much  occupied  the  attention  both  of  naturalists 
and  of  those  who  are  not  naturalists,  or  has  had  so  much  written 
about  it,  as  this,  and  of  no  bird  perhaps  have  more  idle  tales  been 
told.  Its  strange  and,  according  to  the  experience  of  most  peo- 
ple, its  singular  habit  of  entrusting  its  offspring  to  foster-parents 
is  enough  to  account  for  much  of  the  interest  which  has  been  so 
long  felt  in  its  history ;  but  this  habit  is  shared  probably  by  many 
of  its  Old  World  relatives,  as  well  as  in  the  New  World  by  birds 
which  are  not  in  any  near  degree  related  to  it," — as,  for  example, 
our  Cowbird  (Molothrus).  In  this  country  we  have  no  cuckoos 
that  are  given  to  the  habit  of  laying  or  otherwise  depositing  their 
eggs  in  the  nests  of  other  birds,  unless  it  be  the  habit  of  the  Si- 
berian cuckoo  to  do  so,  and  Bendire  has  said  in  regard  to  this 
species  that  as  "  far  as  I  can  learn,  nothing  definite  has  as  yet 
been  ascertained  regarding  its  nesting  habits  and  eggs.  They 
undoubtedly  correspond  closely  to  those  of  its  well-known  west- 
ern relative,  the  common  European  Cuckoo,  Cuculus  canorus,  and 
Dr.  Stejneger  tells  me  that  in  its  general  habits  and  call  notes  he 
could  not  detect  the  slightest  difference  from  those  of  the  latter." 
(Life  Hist.,  N.  A.  £.,  p.  32,  1895.) 

It  will  be  remembered  that  the  Siberian  Cuckoo  (C.  c.  tele- 
phonus  [Heine] )  is,  at  the  best,  but  a  subspecies  of  Cuculus  cano- 


OF   THE    UNITED    STATES  263 

r~us,  and  has  been  added  to  our  avifauna  upon  the  strength  of  a 
single  example  taken  by  Mr.  William  Palmer  at  Northeast  Point, 
St.  Paul's  Island,  Alaska,  on  the  fourth  of  July,  1890.  This  speci- 
men is  now  in  the  collections  of  the  U.  S.  National  Museum. 
(See  The  Auk,  Vol.  xi,  1894,  p.  325.)  The  addition  of  this  species 
of  cuckoo  to  our  fauna  might  be  sufficient  excuse  for  me  to  give  an 
account  of  some  of  the  habits  of  its  western,  ally,  the~coinmon 
cuckoo  of  the  Old  World,  but  as  I  have  never  had  the  oppor- 
tunity of  studying  that  species  in  nature,  this  would  simply  re- 
sult in  my  culling  from  the  records  of  others  for  the  purpose; 
and,  rather  than  do  this,  I  prefer  to  invite  the  student's  attention 
to  what  is  doubtless  the  best  brief  history  of  Cuculus  canorus 
extant;  and  I  refer  to  Professor  Newton's  in  his  Dictionary  of 
Birds,  under  the  title  "  Cuckoo."  (Part  I,  p.  118.)  In  connec- 
tion with  this,  and  in  the  same  excellent  work,  under  the  title 
"Nidification,"  should  be  read  what  Professor  Newton  has  to  say 
in  regard  to  the  origin  of  the  practice  of  certain  birds,  and  among 
them  Cuculus,  of  placing  their  eggs  in  the  nests  of  other  species, 
to  be  incubated  by  the  latter,  and  the  young  fostered.  Without 
question,  the  nearest  relatives  which  Cuculus  canorus  has  in  this 
country  are  the  various  specific  and  subspecific  representatives 
of  the  genus  Coccyzus.  These  are  the  Mangrove  cuckoo  (C. 
minor),  it  having  been  taken  in  Louisiana  and  Florida;  May- 
nard's  cuckoo  (C.  minor  maynardi),  also  having  been  collected  in 
Florida  (Key  West);  the  Yellow-billed  cuckoo  (C.  americanus)  of 
Eastern  North  America;  the  California  cuckoo  (C.  a.  occidenta- 
lis)  of  Western  North  America;  and,  finally,  the  Black-billed 
cuckoo  (C.  erythrophthalmus),  also  of  Eastern  North  America. 

Personally,  I  have  never  enjoyed  the  opportunity  to  study  more 
than  two  of  these  various  forms,  namely,  the  Yellow-billed  and 
the  Black-billed  cuckoos,  but  they  all  are  more  or  less  alike  in 
structure,  habits,  appearance,  form,  plumage,  and  some  other 
characters.  They  all  have  curved  bills ;  the  feathering  of  the  en- 
tire head  and  trunk  is  soft  and  blended;  the  tail  and  wings  are 
long,  giving  the  whole  bird  a  long  and  slender  appearance;  in 
color  they  are  unstriped,  being  of  a  grayish  brown  above,  with  a 
slight  bronzy  tint  to  it,  while  beneath  they  may  be  either  white, 
white  and  buft'y  gray,  or  of  a  deep  ochraceous  (C.  minor).  The 
graduated  tail  is  also  tipped  with  grayish  white,  save  the  middle 
pair  of  feathers.  The  feet  are  zygodactyle — that  is,  two  toes  in 
front  and  two  behind — a  character  that  in  the  entire  history  of 


264  CHAPTERS   .ON    THE    NATURAL    HISTORY 

ornithology  in  epochs  past  has  been  accountable  for  no  end  of 
unnatural  classification,  and  even  at  the  present  time  is  respon- 
sible in  the  schemes  of  not  a  few  taxonomers  for  grouping  birds 
together,  often  otherwise  but  remotely  related.  As  an  example 
of  this  in  the  present  family,  is  the  case  of  the  anis  (Crotophaga) 
and  the  Road-runners  (Geococcyx),  both  considered  Cuckoos,  and 
yet  utterly  different  kinds  of  birds. 

It  is  probable  that  the  Mangrove  cuckoo  occurs  in  this  country 
all  along  the  Gulf  coast  line  from  Key  West  to  include  Louisiana, 
being  found  only  in  the  skirting  timber,  and  never  inland.  They 
build  a  shiftless,  flat  nest  on  a  horizontal  limb,  rarely  over  twelve 
feet  above  the  ground.  The  eggs  are  from  three  to  four;  pale 
green  in  color,  and  usually  rather  larger  than  those  of  C.  ameri- 
canus,  which  they  are  a  good  deal  like.  Contrary  to  the  practice 
of  other  members  of  the  genus,  this  Cuckoo,  it  is  said,  does  not 
begin  to  incubate  until  she  has  laid  her  entire  clutch  of  eggs; 
and,  if  setting,  will  defend  these  latter,  much  in  the  same  man- 
ner as  some  domestic  fowls  do — that  is,  flying  at  the  intruder 
with  ruffled  plumage  and  a  clucking  note.  Although  almost  en- 
tirely an  insectivorous  species,  it  likewise  has  the  reputation  of 
sucking  the  eggs  of  other  birds.  Audubon,  when  at  Key  West, 
constantly  mistook  this  well-marked  form,  "  in  the  course  of  his 
walks,  for  the  common  yellow-billed  species,"  and  did  not  ap- 
preciate the  difference  until  it  was  pointed  out  for  him  by  Major 
Glassel,  of  the  army,  who  was  serving  in  the  fort  there  at  the 
time. 

Maynard's  cuckoo  is  a  rather  smaller  and  lighter  colored  bird 
than  the  Mangrove,  and  thus  far  in  this  country  has  only  been 
taken  upon  the  Island  of  Key  West.  In  all  respects,  so  far  as  at 
present  known,  this  subspecies  closely  resembles  the  two  eastern 
North  American  forms. 

One  of  these  latter,  our  Yellow-billed  cuckoo,  has  a  wide  distri- 
bution all  over  the  eastern  part  of  the  country  and  southern 
Canada,  breeding  in  suitable  localities  over  the  entire  range.  It 
is  a  retiring,  secretive  bird,  and  would  be  but  rarely  noticed  in 
the  tree-tops  were  it  not  for  its  peculiar,  often  somewhat  pro- 
longed gutteral  and  croaking  notes.  These  are  frequently  heard 
just  prior  to  the  advent  of  a  shower  or  storm,  and  hence  the 
species  is  known  in  many  places  as  the  "Rain-crow."  They  are 
very  awkward  upon  the  ground,  with  their  weak  feet  and  short 
legs,  so  they  rarely  alight  there.  In  the  air,  however,  their  flight 


OF  THE  UNITED  STATES  265 

is  graceful  in  the  extreme,  and  often  varied,  the  bird  turning  a 
little  sideways,  and  sometimes  undulating  as  it  passes  with  no 
little  swiftness  from  tree  to  tree.  They  always  remind  me  of  a 
slick-dressed  Quaker,  with  a  Quaker-gray  coat  on,  and  white 
waistcoat.  Most  often  they  hide  in  the  densest  part  of  the  foli- 
age, and  flit  in  a  quaint  way  from  branch  to  branch^  silently 
hunting  their  insect  prey.  I  have  had  this  bird  alive  a  number 
of  times,  and  several  years  ago  took  a  fine,  large  male  in  the 
archa3ological  hall  of  the  Smithsonian  Institution.  One  of  the 
attendants  and  myself  kept  him  flying  about  till  he  came  down 
exhausted  to  the  floor.  I  have  also  had  the  young  nestlings,  just 
after  quitting  the  nest;  they  have  short  tails,  big  heads,  and  the 
lower  bill,  instead  of  being  of  a  deep  yellow,  as  in  the  adults,  is  of 
a  pale  lead  blue. 

These  birds  consume  simply  hundreds  of  noxious  insects,  all 
kinds  of  caterpillars  and  worms,  and  occasionally  indulge  in 
some  of  the  small  fruits  and  berries.  I  have  never  known  of  a 
case  where  either  this  species  of  cuckoo  or  the  Black-billed  one 
was  guilty  of  sucking  birds'  eggs,  and  am  strongly  in- 
clined to  discredit  all  such  stories.  Were  it  true,  the  other  small 
feathered  denizens  of  our  forests  would  surely  raise  a  row  every 
time  a  cuckoo  put  in  an  appearance,  just  as  they  now  salute  a 
jay.  So  far  as  man  is  concerned,  these  birds  stand  among  the 
most  valuable  of  the  friends  he  has  to  the  agriculturist,  and  fully 
deserve  all  the  protection  he  can  extend  to  them. 

They  are  rather  late  breeders,  but  in  the  South  may  have  two 
broods  to  the  season.  Their  nests  are  slovenly,  loose,  platform- 
like  affairs,  composed  of  short,  dry  twigs,  a  few  leaves,  and  a  little 
moss  sometimes.  In  some  cases  to  these  may  be  added  pine 
needles,  the  catkins  of  certain  trees,  and  so  forth.  Many  eggs  of 
this  bird  are  destroyed  by  being  blown  or  otherwise  shaken  out 
of  their  shallow  nests;  and  if  one  stand  below  one  of  them  the 
eggs  can  often  be  seen  through  the  flimsy  thing.  The  number  of 
eggs  vary  from  two  to  five,  but  sets  of  six  and  seven  have  been 
taken,  and  in  these  latter  cases  the  nest  may  have  been  laid  in 
by  another  female.  Sometimes  incubation  begins  after  the  first 
egg  is  laid,  but  usually  the  hen  completes  her  clutch  ere  she 
commences  to  hatch.  This  species  occasionally  lays  in  the  nest 
of  the  Black-billed  cuckoo,  and  vice  versa;  while  on  the  other 
hand,  both  species  sometimes  lay  in  the  nests  of  other  birds,  as 
their  eggs  have  been  found  in  those  of  the  Robin,  Mourning  dove, 


266  CHAPTERS    ON    THE    NATURAL    HISTORY 

Cedar  bird  and  others.  These  cases,  however,  are  not  common, 
and  moreover,  the  act  has  been  detected  among  other  species  of 
birds,  and  those  remotely  affined  to  the  Cuculidce. 

In  speaking  of  the  species  now  being  considered,  Bendire  has 
said :  "  Incubation,  I  think,  lasts  about  fourteen  days,  and  I  be- 
lieve the  female  performs  the  greater  portion  of  this  duty.  The 
young  when  first  hatched  are  repulsive,  black,  and  greasy-looking 
creatures,  nearly  naked,  and  the  sprouting  quills  only  add  to 
their  general  ugliness.  If  the  eggs  are  handled  the  bird  fre- 
quently forsakes  the  nest,  either  throwing  them  out  or  abandon- 
ing them.  The  eggs  are  elliptical  oval  in  shape,  about  equally 
obtuse  at  either  end;  the  shell  is  close-grained,  rather  thin,  and 
without  gloss.  The  ground  color  varies  from  a  uniform  Nile 
blue  to  pale  greenish  blue  when  fresh,  fading  out  in  time  to  a 
pale  greenish  yellow.  They  are  unspotted,  but  occasionally  one 
or  two  eggs  in  a  set  present  a  sort  of  mottled  appearance,  the 
ground  varying  somewhat  on  different  parts  of  the  shell.  Their 
color  is  one  of  those  subtle  tints  which  it  is  difficult  to  describe 
accurately.  Many  of  the  eggs  resemble  in  tint  some  of  the 
lighter-colored  Heron's  eggs." 

In  habits  and  much  else  the  California  cuckoo  greatly  resem- 
bles its  eastern  cousin,  and  requires  no  special  description  here. 
It  is  rather  a  larger  bird,  with  a  somewhat  heavier  and  stouter 
beak.  It  ranges  east  as  far  as  the  eastern  slopes  of  the  Rocky 
Mountains.  Slightly  smaller  than  its  conjener,  the  Yellow-billed 
cuckoo,  the  Black-billed  species  resembles  it  in  most  particulars. 
It  is,  however,  a  hardier  bird,  ranging  further  north  during  its 
migrations  in  the  spring.  By  the  ordinary  observer  it  is  often 
mistaken  in  the  woods  for  the  Yellow-billed,  yet  the  black  bill, 
lesser  size,  and  slightly  appreciable  difference  in  its  notes  are 
usually  sufficient  to  at  once  distinguish  it  in  the  eyes  of  the 
trained  ornithologist.  "  From  personal  observations,"  says  Ben- 
dire,  "  I  am  inclined  to  believe  that  the  Black-billed  cuckoo  is 
more  irregular  in  its  nesting  habits  than  the  Yellow-billed,  and 
that  cases  of  parasitism  are  of  more  frequent  occurrence.  I  also 
think  their  eggs  are  much  oftener  found  in  different  stages  of  in- 
cubation than  appears  to  be  the  case  with  the  Yellow-billed 
species."  Usually  they  build  a  better  nest  than  C.  americanus, 
and  the  two  to  five  (rarely  seven)  eggs,  are  considerably  darker  in 
color;  they  are  also  unspotted.  Bendire,  in  his  great  work,  gives 
several  very  interesting  accounts  of  the  often  erratic  nidification 


OF    THE    UNITED    STATES  267 

of  this  remarkable  cuckoo.  Collectors  of  repute  have  discovered 
numbers  of  pairs  nesting  together;  they  have  been  seen  laying 
their  eggs  in  the  nests  of  other  birds;  when  the  clutch  is  large 
(5-7)  the  birds  hatch  out  irregularly  often,  as  the  parents  com- 
mence sitting  as  soon  as  one  egg  is  laid;  they  will  lay,  as  already 
stated,  in  the  nest  of  the  Yellow-billed  cuckoo ;  they  easily  desert 
their  nests  if  any  way  disturbed,  and  they  have  severaT  ofher  ec- 
centricities of  this  nature.  Perhaps  one  of  the  most  curious  in- 
stances is  that  given  by  Mr.  J.  L.  Davison,  of  Lockport,  New 
York,  who  says  on  "June  17,  1882,  I  found  a  Black-billed  cuckoo 
and  a  Mourning  dove  sitting  on  a  Robin's  nest  together.  The 
cuckoo  was  the  first  to  leave  the  nest.  On  securing  this  I  found 
it  contained  two  eggs  of  the  Cuckoo,  two  of  the  Mourning  dove, 
and  one  Robin's  egg.  The  Robin  had  not  quite  finished  the  nest 
when  the  Cuckoo  took  possession  of  it  and  filled  it  nearly  full  of 
rootlets;  but  the  Robin  got  in  and  laid  one  egg.  Incubation  had 
commenced  in  the  Robin  and  Cuckoo  eggs,  but  not  in  the  Mourn- 
ing dove's  eggs.  I  have  the  nest  and  eggs  in  my  collection." 

The  non-arboreal  Road-runner  or  Chaparral  cock  (Geococcyx 
calif  ornianus)  is  chiefly  found  in  the  southwestern  regions  of  our 
country,  being  largely  confined  to  the  desert  lands,  and  far  less 
often  found  in  the  foothills  of  the  skirting  mountain  ranges.  This 
bird  is  a  large,  handsome  Ground  cuckoo,  of  an  aberrant  type, 
and  evidently  affined  with  other  avian  groups.  Years  ago  I 
printed  an  account  of  its  anatomy  in  the  Proceedings  of  the  Zoo- 
logical Society  of  London;  its  osteology  in  the  Journal  of  Anatomy, 
of  Edinburgh,  and  a  colored  figure  of  its  head  in  The  Ibis  (Lon- 
don). In  the  latter  I  pointed  out  the  naked  skin  tract  on  the 
back  of  the  head,  which  during  life  is  of  a  brilliant  scarlet  color. 

These  birds  are  usually  found  singly  on  the  prairies,  though 
the  half-grown  young  follow  their  mother  about  some  time  after 
leaving  the  nest.  This  latter,  a  shallow,  flat  affair  is  commonly 
built  on  the  ground,  in  low  bushes,  on  cactus  plants,  or  even  in 
small  trees,  very  rarely  above  sixteen  feet  from  the  ground.  It  is 
made  of  small  sticks  and  lightly  lined  with  grass.  The  unspotted 
white  eggs  vary  from  two  to  nine  in  the  set,  and  the  bird  has  a 
few  of  the  incubatory  vagaries  of  the  arboreal  cuckoos  described 
above.  However,  they  do  not  desert  their  nests  when  discov- 
ered, and  the  parents  are  very  solicitous  of  their  young.  Often 
I  have  seen  both  chicks  and  adults  of  this  species  kept  in  cages, 
and  they  make  very  interesting  and  affectionate  pets.  Geococcyx 


268  CHAPTERS    ON    THE    NATURAL    HISTORY 

has  an  easy  and  swift  flight,  while  on  the  ground  it  can  for  a 
short  distance  run  and  outstrip  the  fleetest  of  horses.  It  has  a 
peculiar  call-note,  and  feeds  principally  upon  insects,  lizards, 
snakes,  young  birds,  etc.  Snakes  nearly  two  feet  long  have  been 
killed  and  swallowed  by  them.  The  stories  about  the  remark- 
able way  in  which  they  pen  in  rattlesnakes  with  cactus  joints, 
and  then  stir  up  the  reptile  by  dropping  a  joint  on  him,  which 
causes  it  to  thrash  round  till  exhausted  and  is  finally  killed  by 
the  cunning  Eoad-runner,  are — to  use  a  fitting  phrase — all  gam- 
mon. It  is  a  cowboy  yarn,  and  paralleled  by  numbers  of  others 
equally  mythical,  told  to  comers  from  the  east,  in  times  now 
nearly  past  forever. 

Still  more  remarkable  among  our  Cuculidce  are  the  curious 
cuckoos  called  Anis;  also  known  in  various  localities  as  Black 
Witches,  Savanna  Blackbirds,  and  other  names.  Two  species  of 
these  birds  are  recognized  as  belonging  to  our  fauna — the  Ani 
(Crotophaga  ani)  and  the  Groove-billed  ani  (G.  sulcirostris). 
They  are  small  black  forms,  each  species  about  a  foot  long,  with 
the  upper  bill  elevated  and  much  compressed  laterally.  C.  ani 
has  been  taken  in  southern  Florida  and  Louisiana,  while  the 
other  species  occurs  in  the  valley  of  the  Kio  Grande,  Texas,  and 
in  Lower  California.  These  are  arboreal,  gregarious  birds  of 
very  social  disposition.  They  not  only  perch  close  together  upon 
the  trees,  but  a  number  of  individuals  build  a  nest  together,  and 
in  this  several  females  lay  their  eggs,  to  the  number  of  six  or 
eight.  Of  these  Bendire  says  they  "  are  glaucous-blue  in  color, 
and  this  is  overlaid  and  hidden  by  a  thin,  chalky,  white  deposit;  as 
incubation  advances  the  eggs  become  more  or  less  scratched,  and 
the  blue  underneath  is  then  plainly  visible  in  places,  giving  them 
a  very  peculiar  appearance."  The  nest  is  placed  well  up  in  some 
tree,  and  is  composed  of  twigs  and  lined  with  leaves.  Some- 
times the  eggs  are  placed  in  layers  with  leaves  between  them, 
but  the  eggs  of  the  lower  layer  have  been  found  to  be  infertile. 
Anis  are  awkward  birds  both  in  flight  and  when  in  the  trees,  or 
upon  the  ground;  they  also  have  a  peculiar  wail  of  a  cry  like  a 
sick  kitten;  and  they  also  attend  upon  pasturing  cattle  after  the 
fashion  of  our  Cowbirds  (Molothrus).  They  feed  upon  small 
lizards  and  eggs  of  other  birds.  In  fact,  the  Anis  are  among  the 
most  curious  and  interesting  of  any  of  the  cuculine  forms  known 
to  me,  and,  some  years  ago,  I  studied  with  especial  interest  some 
skeletons  of  these  birds  sent  me  from  southern  Texas. 


OF    THE    UNITED    STATES  269 

Some  remarkable  and  beautiful  Cuckoos  are  found  in  Africa 
and  the  island  of  Madagascar.  The  Great  Spotted  cuckoo  of  the 
former  country  is  a  very  famous  bird  of  this  family.  Their  eggs 
so  closely  resemble  those  of  one  of  the  Pies,  in  the  nest  of  which 
they  are  often  deposited,  that  even,  as  Newton  remarks,  expert 
oologists  have  been  deceived  by  them,  and  not  discovered  which 
was  which  until  in  opening  the  egg  and  finding  either  the  embryo 
Pie  or  the  embryo  Cuckoo. 


CHAPTER  XX. 

WOODPECKERS:     PHOTOGRAPHICALLY     AND     PTERYLOGRAPHICALLY 

CONSIDERED. 

(PM.) 

T  different  times  during  the  last  few  years  I  Lave 
pointed  out  in  the  pages  of  various  journals  some  of 
the  advantages  to  be  gained  by  making  good  photo- 
graphic pictures  of  living  birds,  and  I  believe  it  is  safe 
to  say  that,  at  the  present  time,  these  advantages  are  now  hardly 
questioned  by  any  one.  We  often  see  in  properly  taken  photo- 
graphs of  birds  characters  that  are  never  recorded  by  any  other 
means.  My  opportunities  to  make  such  pictures  of  living  ani- 
mals of  all  kinds  have  never  been  better- than  they  are  to-day, 
and  no  chance  of  the  kind  is  allowed  to  slip  by.  By  .close  study 
of  previous  failures  and  experiences,  present  successes  are  now 
of  more  frequent  occurrence,  and  it  is  not  altogether  a  rare  thing 
to  produce  a  result  worthy  of  permanent  record. 

Recently  I  have  been  doing  something  with  the  woodpeckers, 
and  have  been  enabled  to  secure  one  or  two  pretty  good  things. 
This  was  my  fortune,  upon  the  21st  of  last  March  (1896)  and  the 
day  following,  when  I  captured  alive  an  adult  male  specimen  of 
the  Downy  woodpecker  (Dryobates  pubescens),  and  brought  him 
to  my  studio  in  excellent  condition.  He  at  once  gave  evidence 
of  being  a  gentle  and  the  very  best  kind  of  subject.  It  was  too 
late  to  do  anything  with  him  the  first  day,  so  he  was  confined  in 
a  cage  until  next  morning,  at  which  time  he  drank  very  freely  of 
water  with  great  apparent  relish,  and,  being  placed  upon  a  hori- 
zontal limb  with  a  shallow,  scooped  out  place  on  top  of  it,  he  rap- 
idly devoured  upward  of  fifty  soft  Iarva3  that  I  put  in  there  be- 
fore him  as  his  breakfast.  His  extreme  gentleness  was  remark- 
able, and  he  made  scarcely  any  objection  to  being  freely  handled, 
seeming  perfectly  at  home  in  half  an  hour  after  his  capture. 
Owing  to  his  great  activity  I  found  it  difficult  to  get  a  photograph 
of  him  upon  a  horizontal  limb,  for  he  betrayed  all  the  restless- 
ness of  his  genus  the  moment  he  was  placed  upon  it  in  that  posi- 
tion. Sometimes  he  seemed  to  be  upon  all  sides  of  it  at  once, 
so  quick  were  his  movements.  Every  once  in  a  while  he  would 
stop  and  pound  away  at  the  bark,  diligently  searching  for  the 


FIG.  65.     PHOTOGRAPH  OF  A  LIVE  SPECIMEN  OF  DOWNY  WOOD- 
PECKER (D.  pubescens) ;  Adult. 

Two-thirds  natural  size.     Taken  by  the  Author. 


OF  THE  UNITED  STATES  273 

small  larvse  that  I  had  concealed  in  the  interstices  for  him.  This 
would  not  do,  for  I  had  not  a  particularly  good  light  to  work  in, 
and  I  was  using  a  small  "  stop,"  so  as  to  obtain  all  the  detail  pos- 
sible. In  order,  then,  to  check  his  movements  a  little,  it  occurred 
to  me  to  bring  his  perch  to  the  vertical  position.  This  seemed  to 
make  but  very  little  difference  to  him  at  first,  and  he  ran_up  and 
down  the  limb  and  peeped  about  it,  first  upon  one  side,  and  then 
upon  the  other,  in  a  manner  most  interesting  to  behold.  Several 
exposures  were  made  upon  him,  and  immediately  developed  in 
the  dark  room  near  by,  but  from  one  cause  or  another  they  were 
not  fully  satisfactory.  At  last,  however,  I  got  him.  He  had  been 
playing  at  hide  and  seek  with  me  all  around  his  stump,  and  I 
had  engaged  with  him  at  the  same  game  behind  the  ground  glass 
at  the  back  of  my  camera,  when  suddenly  he  stopped  for  a  couple 
of  seconds,  missing  me  as  I  hid  my  head  beneath  the  focussing 
cloth.  The  opportunity  was  too  good  to  be  lost,  and  I  squeezed 
the  bulb  as  long  as  I  dared,  and  then  let  go,  and  the  snap  of  the 
shutter  informed  me  that  he  was  my  woodpecker — at  last. 

The  reproduction  of  this  picture  is  offered  here  as  an  illustra- 
tion and  is  shown  in  Fig.  65.  It  is  one  of  the  best  photo- 
graphs of  a  living  woodpecker  that  I  have  thus  far  met  with,  in- 
asmuch as  it  is  over  two-thirds  the  size  of  life;  sharp  to  a  fault, 
and  exhibits  the  bird  in  a  very  characteristic  attitude.  It  prac- 
tically consumed  an  entire  day  to  obtain  this  picture,  and  fre- 
quently I  have  spent  a  great  deal  more  than  that  amount  of  time 
in  securing  the  result  desired.  In  order  to  get  even  as  simple 
a  picture  as  the  one  here  given,  it  is  absolutely  necessary  that 
several  things  be  taken  into  consideration.  The  operator  must 
possess  an  intimate  knowledge  of  his  subject  in  a  state  of  nature; 
he  must  have  taste,  and  an  enormous  stock  of  patience;  and 
finally,  in  everything  only  the  very  best  of  material  must  be  em- 
ployed. 

Nestlings  of  a  great  many  species  of  birds  are,  at  their  best, 
very  extraordinary  looking  objects,  but  of  all  these,  young  wood- 
peckers are,  I  think,  the  most  remarkable. 

Last  May,  my  son  and  myself  were  rambling  through  the  woods 
of  the  southern  part  of  Montgomery  county,  Maryland,  within 
a  few  miles  of  Washington.  Here,  in  a  great,  lofty  stump  of  a 
limb  of  an  old  tree,  long  dead,  he  discovered,  twenty  or  more  feet 
above  the  ground,  the  entrance  to  a  new  nest  of  the  Golden- 
winged  woodpecker  (CoTaptes  auratus).  As  I  was  photograph- 


274  CHAPTERS    ON    THE    NATURAL    HISTORY 

ing  everything  living  I  could  lay  my  hands  on  in  those  days,  the 
thought  occurred  to  me  that  to  make  a  picture  of  these  nestling 
woodpeckers  would  be  a  unique  idea.  My  son,  upon  climbing  the 
barkless  trunk  of  the  dead  tree,  and  examining  the  nest  as  well  as 
could  be  done  by  listening  at  the  entrance,  for  it  was  too  deep  to 
reach  with  the  arm  and  hand,  the  conclusion  was  arrived  at  that 
the  eggs  had  not  as  yet  been  hatched,  so  we  withdrew  to  await 
that  event. 

About  a  fortnight  afterward  we  returned  to  the  spot,  and  a 
second  examination  convinced  us  that  the  nest  contained  young. 
By  standing  on  a  slippery  limb  that  branched  out  below  the  hole 
of  entrance,  and  by  the  laborious  use  of  a  small  hatchet,  my  boy 
cut  that  old  tree  in  two  well  below  the  nest,  after  nearly  an 
hour's  constant  chopping.  Down  it  toppled  with  a  rush,  break- 
ing into  several  pieces  in  its  fall,  but  in  such  manner  that  wre 
were  enabled  to  carry  home  the  entire  portion  containing  the 
nest  and  the  young. 

There  were  seven  of  these  latter,  and,  as  I  have  said,  they  were 
surely  the  oddest  looking  creatures  alive.  They  varied  some- 
what in  point  of  size  and  in  gradation,  the  smallest  one  being  not 
more  than  two-thirds  the  size  of  the  biggest  fellow,  which  I  took 
to  be  a  male.  They  were  a  lively  flesh-color  in  hue,  and  feather- 
less,  all  to  the  pinfeathers  of  the  feather  tracts,  which,  by  the 
way,  showed  the  woodpecker  pattern  most  beautifully,  being  full 
of  interest  to  the  pterylographist,  or  to  the  one  who  describes  the 
different  feather  tracts  upon  the  bodies  of  birds.  Their  eyes  had 
not  as  yet  opened,  and  their  necks  were  long  and  snake-like,  and 
none  too  strong  to  balance  their  big  heads.  Another  very  remark- 
able feature  was  the  chalky,  hard,  knob-like  growth  at  either 
angle  of  the  mouth,  and  I  am  quite  unable  to  say  anything  about 
the  origin  of  this  protuberance,  or  its  use;  it  is  well  known,  of 
course,  that  it  gradually  disappears  as  the  birds  grow,  and  in  the 
fully  feathered  nestling  it  has  about  all  disappeared. 

This  brood  was  placed  in  a  suitable  box,  half  full  of  dry  saw- 
dust, and  the  entire  lot  huddled  together  down  in  one  of  the 
corners.  Assuredly  to  the  eye  they  presented  a  curious,  tangled 
mass,  that  kept  up  a  continuous  shivering  motion,  accompanied 
by  an  unharmonious  baby-picine  snoring,  low  in  pitch,  peculiar  in 
nature,  and  that  could  be  heard  for  some  little  distance  from  the 
box. 

Upon  the  slightest  disturbance  in  their  neighborhood,  each 


FIG.  66.    VERTICAL  SECTION  OF  TREE  SHOWING  NEST  OF  GOLDEN- 
WINGED  WOODPECKER,  CONTAINING  Six  YOUNG. 


OF  THE  UNITED  STATES  277 

bird  at  once  disengaged  itself,  and  with  an  awkward,  quivering 
stagger,  arose  as  best  it  could,  semi-erect,  and  stretching  out  its 
neck  to  its  utmost  capacity,  gave  vent  to  a  grunting,  hissing, 
noisy  quaver  that,  when  added  to  the  voices  of  the  other  six, 
could  be  heard  only  too  distinctly  all  over  the  house.  At  this 
time  all  their  mouths  gaped  wide  open,  and  they  relished  both 
water  dropped  into  them,  as  well  as  a  bolus  of  bird  food",  big 
enough  in  each  case  for  a  half-grown  chicken.  A  moment  or  so 
after  the  source  of  their  alarm  was  withdrawn  they  gradually 
settled  back  into  their  former  huddled  mass,  and  with  equal  de- 
liberation lowered  their  voices  to  again  resume  the  low  snoring 
sounds  above  described.  It  was  surprising  how  little  it  took  to 
arouse  them;  one  might  hold  over  the  group  the  expanded  hand, 
at  the  distance  of  a  foot  or  more  away,  and  then,  by  an  up  and 
down  gentle  movement,  so  as  to  fan  the  bunch  in  the  very  slight- 
est degree  imaginable,  they  would  at  once  arise  en  masse,  and 
create  the  same  unearthly  disturbance  I  have  already  attempted 
to  describe.  There  is  no  question  but  that  the  least  breath  from 
a  parent's  wing  at  the  nest's  entrance  would  be  ample  to  thus 
excite  this  strange  crew;  and  I  suppose  this  has  been  brought 
about  from  the  fact  that  they  have  nothing  else  to  do  but  lie  there 
and  await  being  fed,  with  all  their  mental  armament  concen- 
trated upon  listening  for  the  coming  of  the  old  bird  with  the  juicy 
Iarva3.  As  there  seemed  to  be  no  end  to  their  appetites,  I'll  war- 
rant the  old  ones  are  kept  busy  to  supply  their  hungry  maws,  and 
are  pretty  tired  by  the  time  nightfall  comes  round. 

One  thing  about  these  young  woodpeckers  struck  me  as  very 
peculiar,  and  that  was  the  remarkable  size  of  the  excrementitious 
mass  any  one  of  them  passed  at  a  time,  as  well  as  the  fact  that  it 
seemed  to  require  the  action  of  the  whole  body  to  accomplish  the 
feat — and  no  wonder.  On  every  occasion,  in  nature,  this  is  at 
once  removed  from  the  nest  by  a  parent  bird,  who  carries  it  out 
and  drops  it  at  some  little  distance. 

In  cutting  this  nest,  I  believe  the  birds  had  simply  very  slightly 
enlarged  the  hollow  heart  already  destroyed  by  rot,  and  carried 
their  work  down  for  about  two  feet.  Below  this  point  for  sev- 
eral feet  the  tree  was  likewise  hollow,  and  the  strange  part  of  it 
was,  that  the  bottom  of  the  nest  was  composed  of  sawdust  not 
very  strongly  stuck  together,  but  strong  enough  to  compose  a 
partition  a  little  over  an  inch  thick,  that  horizontally  and  com- 
pletely divided  off  the  nest  part  from  the  continued  hollow  of  the 


278 


CHAPTERS    ON    THE    NATURAL    HISTORY 


tree  below  it.  On  the  upper  side  of  this  partition  the  seven 
young  "  flickers,"  or  "  high  holes,"  as  they  call  them  in  New  Eng- 
land, had  been  hatched. 


FIG.  68.     PTERYLOSIS  OF  HARRIS'S  WOODPECKER. 

Left  lateral  view  of  a  plucked  specimen  of  Harris's  woodpecker  (D.  v.  harrisii) ;  adult  male  ;  d,  upper 
part  of  the  "inferior  space "  (Apt.  mesogastr&i ;  k,  the  uropygial  gland  of  the  left  side  ;  /,  its  exter- 
nal papilla  with  opening  at  its  summit,  which  is  also  "  tufted." 


On  May  31,  1896,  I  vertically  divided  this  nest  directly  through 
its  median  plane,  and  placing  it  in  a  favorable  position  for  light, 
and  allowing  six  of  these  young  birds  to  settle  down  in  normal 


*£&* 


«t,.^ 
««''- 


&; 


w 


FIG.  67.     NESTLING  GOLDEN-WINGED  WOODPECKER. 

Nearly  life-size.     From  a  Photograph  from  life  by  the  Author. 


OF    THE    UNITED    STATES  281 

attitudes  on  the  shelf  bottom  of  their  former  home,  I  made  the 
photograph,  a  copy  of  which  appears  as  one  of  the  accompanying 
illustrations.  The  birds  shown  in  this  picture  I  take  to  be  about 
ten  or  twelve  days  old,  and  it  must  be  several  days  after  this  be- 
fore any  feathers  begin  to  appear  upon  them. 

Later  in  the  season  my  son  found  another  nest  of  this  species, 
and  from  it  succeeded  in  capturing  a  nestling  that  was  just  about 
to  shift  for  itself.  Of  this  bird  I  succeeded  in  getting  a  number 
of  good  photographs,  and  one  of  these  is  reproduced  here,  ex- 
hibiting him  in  a  peculiar  attitude  that  he  assumed  when  he 
jumped  from  the  horizontal  part  of  a  limb  to  another  portion 
growing  out  from  it  at  nearly  right  angles.  Coming  to  a  rest 
after  this  jump,  he  frequently  held  on  to  the  bark  with  his  foot  in 
the  awkward  manner  illustrated  in  the  picture  shown  on  this 
page. 

In  closing  this  chapter  I  desire  to  say  a  few  words  about  the 
pterylography  of  woodpeckers,  and  were  the  question  pro- 
pounded to  any  person  who  had  never  given  the  matter  a  thought 
— are  the  feathers  of  birds  implanted  in  their  skin  in  such  a  way 
as  to  spring  from  it  by  an  even  and  unbroken  distribution  over 
the  entire  surface  of  the  body,  or  are  the  feathers  arranged 
upon  any  plan,  so  that  were  they  all  trimmed  down  close  to  the 
skin  there  would  be  presented  to  us  some  definite  pattern  of  ar- 
rangement duly  outlined  by  the  remaining  extremities  of  the 
quill-butts?  I  am  inclined  to  suspect  that  not  only  that  person 
but  perhaps  a  great  many  people  would  at  first  say,  "  Why,  a 
bird's  body  is  entirely  covered  with  feathers,  of  course,  and  they 
arise  by  an  even  distribution  all  over  it."  Now,  the  truth  of  the 
matter  is  that  there  are  but  a  very  few  birds  indeed  that  at  all 
approach  any  such  condition  (penguins,  toucans,  and  ostrich-like 
birds),  the  vast  majority  of  the  class  having  their  feathers  ar- 
ranged upon  their  bodies  after  some  definite  plan.  This  partic- 
ular arrangement  of  a  bird's  plumage  is  technially  designated 
by  those  engaged  in  investigating  their  structure  as  its  ptery- 
losis.  From  the  several  parts  of  the  body  the  feathers  spring 
from  the  skin  along  certain  lines,  or  from  definite  circumscribed 
areas,  in  either  case  known  as  "  tracts  "  (pterylce),  while  the  un- 
feathered  portions  which  occur  in  between  these  are  defined  as 
"spaces"  (apteria).  Such  being  the  case,  science  in  due  time 
seized  upon  this  discovery  and  enlisted  so  useful  a  character  as 
an  aid  to  the  classification  of  birds,  as  men  were  not  long  in  find- 


282  CHAPTERS    ON    THE    NATURAL    HISTORY 

ing  out  that  the  pterylosis  differed  in  the  several  families  and 
orders  of  the  class.  A  great  continental  naturalist,  Mtzsch,  has 
done  more  for  us  in  this  direction  than  any  one  else,  and  I  may 
add  that  the  pterylosis  of  a  great  many  of  our  United  States 
birds  remains  yet  to  be  described,  and  that,  too,  in  many  impor- 
tant forms  demanding  a  more  correct  classification  than  has 
thus  far  been  awarded  them.  Further  on  I  will  demonstrate  this 
latter  statement  by  an  example,  and  as  the  pterylosis  of 
a  bird  with  due  care  can  easily  be  described  and-  worked  out,  it  is 
the  chief  object  of  this  part  of  the  present  chapter  to  excite  the 
interest  of  naturalists  and  others  in  this  subject,  with  the  hope 
that  further  investigation  in  the  field  will  be  duly  undertaken. 

Nitzsch  employed  four  principal  methods  of  studying  the  ptery- 
olsis  of  a  bird:  (1)  by  examining  nestlings;  (2)  by  plucking  adult 
specimens;  (3)  by  clipping  off  all  the  feathers,  wetting  the  body, 
and  then  examining  it ;  and  (4)  by  skinning  the  bird,  and  studying 
the  pterylce  and  apteria  upon  the  inner  surface  of  the  skin. 

In  the  present  connection  it  is  not  the  writer's  intention  to  en- 
ter upon  the  subject  of  the  study  of  the  structure  of  the  numer- 
ous forms  that  feathers  themselves  are  known  to  assume,  for  as 
interesting  as  this  is,  space  alone  would  prevent  such  a  step  here. 
Nor  do  I  intend  to  dwell,  and  for  the  same  reason,  for  any  length 
upon  the  arrangement  or  number  of  the  feathers-in-chief  of  the 
wings  (remiges)  or  the  tail  (rectrices),  both  of  which  are  known 
to  be  so  various  in  birds.  Much  less  do  I  intend  to  enter  upon 
the  character  of  plumage  itself,  and  the  fantastic  variations  it 
may  display  in  a  great  many  of  the  representatives  of  the  Class. 

On  the  other  hand,  I  shall  aim  to  present  the  several  names 
which  have  been  bestowed  upon  the  feather-tracts,  to  designate 
them ;  and  by  pointing  them  out  by  the  aid  of  my  drawings,  here- 
with presented,  show  their  relative  position  in  one  of  our  birds; 
and  finally  will  offer  another  bird,  nearly  related,  and  with  ap- 
propriate figures  endeavor  to  point  out  the  value  of  pterylosis  in 
classification. 

By  this  means  I  hope  to  lay  a  safe  guide  before  any  one,  who 
in  the  future  may  have  the  opportunity  to  study  the  pterylosis 
of  our  birds,  and  especially  in  those  forms  which,  up  to  the  pres- 
ent writing,  have  not  fallen  into  the  hands  of  science  except  in 
dried  skins,  which  are  useless  for  such  purposes. 

Any  accurately  recorded  pterylographical  notes  are  of  the  high- 
est importance  to  the  science  of  ornithology. 


FIG.  69.     PTERYLOSIS  OF  HARRIS'S  WOODPECKER. 

A.  Dorsal  aspect  of  the  same  specimen  shown  in  Fig.  68;  6,  capital  apterium;  c,  the  medianf(at 
the  point  indicated)  elevation  of  the  skin  caused  by  the  epibranchials  of  the  hyoidean  apparatus  beneath 
it;  </,  spinal  tract;/,  inner  humeral  tract; «,  humeral  tract;  A,  lower  dilation  of  spinal  tract  (the  saddle)  ; 
j,  lower  part  of  spinal  tract  (rump  tract);  ?',  crural  tract;  o.  femoral  tract  (very  faintly  seen  in  a  wood- 
pecker i;p,  caudal  tract;  <?,  alar  .tract.  B.  Anterior  or  ventral  aspect  of  the  same  specimen,  with 
its  head  turned  to  the  left;  a,  capital  tract;  n,  the  ventral  tract,  and  m,  its  external  branch.  All  the 
figures  drawn  by  the  Author  from  the  specimen. 


OF    THE    UNITED    STATES 


285 


Let  us  next  investigate  this  matter  in  the  way  I  have  already 
proposed  above,  and  for  this  purpose  I  choose  an  adult  male 
specimen  of  Harris's  woodpecker  (Dryobates  villosus  harrisii) 


FIG.  70.     VENTRAL  VIEW  OF  A  PLUCKED  SPECIMEN  OF  THE  RED- 
NAPED  WOODPECKER  {Sphyrapicus  v.  nuchalis). 

Showing  its  pterylosis  or  feather-tracts.    Life  size,  by  the  Author,  from  nature. 

and   an   adult   male   specimen   of  the   Bed-naped   woodpecker 
(Sphyrapicus  varius  nuchalis).    These  birds  are  now  before  me; 


286  CHAPTERS    ON    THE    NATURAL    HISTORY 

and  first  we  will  pluck  them  both  carefully,  coniuienciug  at  the 
base  of  the  mandibles  in  each  case,  and  extending  it  down  as  far 
as  the  root  of  the  neck. 

It  will  at  once  be  observed  that  in  these  two  woodpeckers  the 
head-tract  or  capital  pteryla  (P.  capitis)  is  very  different.  In 
Harris's  woodpecker  there  is  a  median  naked  space  on  top,  for 
the  most  part  overlying  the  elevation  caused  by  the  epibranchials 
of  the  hyoidean  arches,  which  Mtzsch  says  occurs  in  all  the 
woodpeckers  he  ever  examined,  but  this  authority  never  in- 
spected a  specimen  of  our  Sphyrapictts,  and  in  this  bird  the  head 
is  completely  covered  with  feathers  (Figs.  70  and  71),  and  no  such 
median  naked  space  is  to  be  found.  Another  apterium,  also  de- 
scribed by  Mtzsch,  occurs  on  the  sides  of  the  head  in  the  tem- 
poral space.  I  find  this  in  Dryobates  and  Colaptes,  and  it  may  be 
present  in  Sphyrapicus.  Moreover,  as  Sphyrapicus  has  a  hyoidean 
apparatus  very  much  as  we  find  it  in  the  majority  of  birds  where 
the  epibranchials  are  not  curled  over  the  top  of  the  skull  as 
shown  in  Fig.  69  at  c,  the  skin  is  not  elevated  along  that  region. 
In  some  birds,  of  course,  as  the  condors,  the  head  is  destitute  of 
feathers.  The  head-tract,  as  a  rule,  however,  includes  the  head 
and  the  lateral  tracts  of  the  neck,  merging  below  into  the  ventral 
and  spinal  tracts  (Figs.  68  and  69).  We  may  next  completely  fin- 
ish the  plucking  of  our  two  specimens,  closely  observing  the  posi- 
tion of  the  feathers  as  we  deliberately  remove  them.  Now  it  will 
be  found  that  with  some  few  birds,  very  few  comparatively,  a 
strip  of  feathers  of  uniform  width  runs  down  the  entire  length  of 
the  back,  but  as  a  rule  the  greatest  amount  of  variation  exists  in 
this  particular.  In  the  case  of  the  two  woodpeckers  before  us  a 
marked  difference  is  again  seen,  for  this  spinal-tract  in  Harris's 
woodpecker  commences  above  as  a  narrow,  median,  longitudinal 
strip,  which  dilates  at  the  middle  of  the  back  as  a  bifurcated 
"  saddle-tract "  (Fig.  69,  g  and  h) ;  then  occurs  an  interruption 
when  a  rump  division  of  the  spinal-tract  commences  and  extends 
down  over  the  tufted  oil-gland  (j),  while  that  part  which  is  car- 
ried over  the  caudal  region  (the  true  tail  of  a  bird)  is  designated 
as  the  CAUDAL-TRACT.  Turning  to  Sphyrapicus  we  note  that  there 
is  no  interruption  in  the  spinal-tract,  and  that  the  "  saddle  por- 
tion "  is  a  lozenge-shaped  area,  as  shown  in  Fig!  71.  This  is  par- 
ticularly interesting  when  taken  in  connection  with  the  condi- 
tion of  the  hyoid  in  this  bird,  for  the  arrangement  is  quite  similar 
to  the  spinal-tract  as  it  is  found  in  passerine  birds  generally. 


FIG.  71.     DORSAL  ASPECT  OF  THE  SAME  SPECIMEN  OF  Sphyrapicus. 

SHOWN  IN  FIG.  70,  DESIGNED  TO  ILLUSTRATE  ITS  PTERYLOSIS. 
Life  size,  by  the  Author. 


OF    THE    UNITED    STATES  289 

Birds  also  exhibit  a  great  variation  in  their  spinal  tracts,  and  I 
trust  some  of  the  readers  of  this  chapter  will  demonstrate  this 
to  their  own  satisfaction. 

Still  referring  to  Figure  69,  we  note  that  the  humeral  region  of 
each  arm  is  obliquely  crossed  by  a  narrow  feather  strip  (e), 
which  is  known  as  the  humeral-tract  (the  single  long  bone  of  the 
arm  is  the  hurnerus),  while  in  our  woodpeckers  we  see  a  character 
quite  peculiar  to  them,  being  present  in  both  of  our  specimens, 
and  shown  at  /,  a  little  separate  tract,  called  the  inner  humeral- 
tract.  Mtzsch  found  only  one  woodpecker  that  lacked  this  char- 
acteristic feature,  a  Sumatran  type  (P.  luridus).  Such  feather- 
ing as  a  wing  may  show,  aside  from  the  flight  feathers,  is  col- 
lectively spoken  of  as  the  ALAR  TRACT  (Fig.  69,  q). 

Over  the  region  of  the  thigh  there  is  a  tract  known  as  the 
FEMORAL  TRACT  (Fig.  69,  o),  which  is  but  very  faintly  indicated  in 
woodpeckers,  not  noticeable  at  all  in  most  specimens  and  spe- 
cies. 

Then  across  the  leg  there  is  a  well  defined  strip  which  we  call 
the  CRURAL  TRACT,  shown  in  Fig.  69  at  i,  and  is  even  more  con- 
spicuously seen  in  Sphyrapicus  (Fig.  71). 

We  may  also  see  from  these  figures  that  the  apteria,  or  naked 
spaces,  are  sparsely  covered  over  in  some  places  by  small,  downy 
feathers  of  an  elementary  character. 

Turning  next  to  Figures  69  B  and  70,  we  are  enabled  to  study 
the  feather  tracts  as  they  are  found  to  occur  upon  the  ventral 
aspect  of  the  body — and  here  again  we  note  that  no  little  differ- 
ence obtains  between  our  two  specimens  of  woodpeckers. 

Most  often  the  VENTRAL  TRACT  is  a  single  broad  one,  extending 
from  the  region  of  the  shoulder  in  front  down  to  the  vent,  being 
situated  about  half  way  between  the  middle  line  of  the  body  and 
the  side,  and  not  so  well  marked  for  its  lower  moiety  as  it  is 
above  (Fig.  69  B,  m  and  n).  In  these  woodpeckers,  however,  the 
upper  part  of  this  ventral-tract  bifurcates,  giving  rise  to  an  ex- 
ternal tract  seen  at  m  and  of  quite  a  different  form  in  Dryobates 
and  Sphyrapicu-8. 

A  circlet  of  feathers  usually  surrounds  the  vent,  and  in  Har- 
ris's Woodpecker  there  extends  down  over  the  anterior  aspect  of 
the  coccygeal  region,  from  this  point,  on  either  side,  a  narrow 
feather  tract,  which,  taken  in  connection  with  the  median  line 
over  the  same  part,  we  might  collectively  name  the  POSTVENTRAL 
TRACT,  in  the  absence  of  any  other  designation  known  to  me  for 
it. 


290  CHAPTERS    ON    THE    NATURAL    HISTORY 

We  have,  then,  the  following  feather  tracts  to  study  and  com- 
pare in  birds  with  the  view  of  assisting  us  in  our  classification  of 
this  group  of  vertebrates,  viz. : 

1.  The  spinal  tract  (Pteryla  spinaUs) . 

2.  The  humeral  tract  (Pteryla  humeralis). 

3.  The  femoral  or  lumbar  tract   (Pteryla  femoralis  seu  lum- 
balis) . 

4.  The  ventral  tract  (Pteryla  gastroei). 

5.  The  lateral  neck  tract  (Pteryla  colli  lateralis). 

6.  The  head  tract  (Pteryla  capitis). 
1.  The  wing  tract  (Pteryla  alaris). 

8.  The  crural  tract  (Pteryla  cruralis). 

9.  The  caudal  tract  (Pteryla  caudalis). 

10.  The  postventral  tract  (Pteryla  postventralis). 

There  will,  too,  of  course,  be  some  anomalies  to  be  on  the  look- 
out for,  as  we  see  in  the  "  internal  humeral  tract "  and  such 
others  like  it. 

This  chapter  will  not  have  been  contributed  in  vain  if  it  but 
prove  to  be  the  means  of  inciting  even  one  careful  observer  to 
enter  upon  this  very  fruitful  field  of  research. 

As  for  myself,  I  was  never  so  fully  impressed  with  the  value 
of  pterylography  as  an  aid  to  correct  taxonomy  in  birds  as  I  was 
when  I  came  to  investigate  this  character  and  compare  it  in  the 
swifts  and  humming  birds,  forms  by  many  supposed  to  be  re- 
lated to  each  other  closely  enough  at  least  to  place  them  in  the 
same  order.  I  found  the  pterylosis  in  a  swift  very  different  from 
the  pterylosis  in  a  humming  bird,  a  fact  which  further  supports  a 
former  suggestion  of  mine,  elsewhere  published,  to  the  effect 
that  these  birds  be  placed  in  entirely  different  groups. 


CHAPTER  XXI. 

THE     CEDAR     BIRDS:     WITH     NOTES     ON     WHERE     BIRDS     LAY     THEIR 

EGGS. 

(Ampelidw,  Turdus,  Vireo,  etc.) 

ANY  of  our  birds  are  far  better  known  to  people  at  large 
than  are  others.  As,  for  example,  bluejays,  robins, 
catbirds,  wrens,  crows,  bluebirds,  and  the  like,  are 
recognized  upon  sight  by  almost  any  one — certainly 
by  any  intelligent  person;  but  this  is  by  no  means  the  case  when 
such  forms  as  vireos,  kinglets,  pipits,  leucostictes,  blue-headed 
euphonias,  and  others  come  to  be  considered. 

Cedar  birds  most  emphatically  belong  to  the  first  class  men- 
tioned, and  the  graceful  form  of  this  species  and  its  exquisitely 
delicate  plumage  are  so  well  known  that  neither  require  any  de- 
tailed description  here.  As  I  write,  I  have  before  me  twenty-one 
beautiful  skins  of  cedar  birds  belonging  to  my  son's  private  col- 
lection. They  were  all  taken  by  ourselves  last  summer,  near 
Washington,  D.  C.,  and  prepared  by  him.  Both  sexes  are  fully 
represented,  as  well  as  the  young,  and  the  series  as  a  whole  ex- 
hibits various  plumage  phases.  There  are  also  before  me  many 
photographs  of  cedar  birds  taken  by  myself  last  spring  and  sum- 
mer, from  living  specimens  that  we  captured.  One  of  these  lat- 
ter, a  fine  adult  male,  I  likewise  possess  at  this  time,  he  having 
been  kept  as  a  cage  bird  by  me  for  nearly  six  months.  At  pres- 
ent (October  10)  he  is  in  molt,  and  the  process  in  this  species  is 
most  interesting  to  observe  and  study.  Figs.  72  and  73,  here 
shown,  are  reproduced  from  photographs  I  made  of  this  bird 
when  he  was  in  full  plumage,  while  in  Fig.  74  we  have  him  again, 
in  company  with  a  female  which  I  had  alive  at  that  time. 

These  birds  tame  very  easily,  and  are  quite  as  easily  kept. 
They  are  passionately  fond  of  a  variety  of  berries,  as  any  of  the 
small  garden  fruits,  as  they  likewise  are  of  gumberries,  pokeber- 
ries,  and  cedarberries.  In  nature,  when  these  latter  are  ripe,  the 
cedar  birds  flock  to  the  trees,  often  in  considerable  numbers,  to 
feed,  and  owing  to  this  circumstance  it  has  received  one  of  its 
names.  Although  its  plumage  in  confinement  seems  to  be  kept 
in  the  very  neatest  possible  trim,  I  have  never  seen  the  bird 
bathe;  yet  they  are  very  fond  of  having  their  cage  placed  out  so 
they  may  gain  the  advantage  of  a  gentle  shower. 


292  CHAPTERS    ON    THE    NATURAL    HISTORY 

This  specimen  of  mine  is  very  dainty  about  his  plumage,  and 
when  hopping  across  the  floor  of  his  cage  to  reach  his  drinking- 
cup,  he  goes  by  short  leaps,  holding  his  tail  erect  in  a  very  pecu- 
liar manner.  As  is  well  known,  they  have  no  true  note,  and  it  is 
only  occasionally,  in  a  cage,  that  they  give  vent  to  their  charac- 
teristic shrillish  lisp,  that  may  be  easily  heard  and  quickly  recog- 
nized at  some  little  distance  away.  He  is  very  fond  of  sitting 
quietly  on  his  perch,  and  fluffing  himself  up  to  enjoy  a  sun  bath; 
at  which  time  he  slowly  erects  and  lowers  his  beautiful  crest, 
occasionally  uttering  a  low  lisp,  with  the  intention  of  calling 
such  others  of  his  species  as  may  be  in  the  neighborhood. 

Cedar  birds  are  distributed  over  North  America  at  large,  and 
are  known  in  various  localities  by  different  names.  They  are 
widely  known,  for  example,  as  Cedar  Waxwings,  or  simply  Wax- 
wrings,  from  the  peculiar  growths  found  upon  the  terminal  ends 
of  the  shafts  of  the  secondary  feathers  of  the  wings,  and  fre- 
quently ornamenting  the  tail  feathers  in  a  similar  manner.  On 
a  wing  these  appear  like  small,  graduated,  elongated  scales  of 
red  sealing  wax,  but  really  are  a  modification  and  development 
of  the  feather  shaft.  By  some  they  are  supposed  to  protect  the 
ends  of  the  secondaries  when  the  bird  is  fluttering  in  the  dense 
foliage  of  the  cedar  trees  after  its  food;  but  I  am  of  the  opinion 
that  they  serve  no  such  purpose  whatever,  being  merely  orna- 
mental in  character.  They  vary  in  number  from  a  few  to  nine, 
and  on  the  tail  they  may  be  minute,  or  as  large  as  the  largest  on 
the  wings.  Some  ornithologists  state  that  they  sometimes  occur 
on  the  primaries  of  the  wings,  or  even  on  the  inferior  tail  coverts, 
but  I  believe  the  statement  to  be  erroneous.  Both  sexes  possess 
them,  but  they  are  of  more  frequent  occurrence  on  the  males. 
During  the  molt  these  appendages  develop  within  the  "  pin- 
feather,"  and  are  of  full  size  when  the  latter  bursts  and  the 
feather  makes  its  appearance.  In  young  birds  of  the  first  year,  if 
they  are  present  at  all,  they  are  white  and  very  minute. 

We  have  another  bird  of  this  genus  in  our  avifauna,  and  indeed 
it  is  distributed  over  the  northern  parts  of  the  entire  northern 
hemisphere.  This  species  is  the  Bohemian  Waxwing  (AnipcTw 
garrulus),  and  though  a  good  deal  like  our  cedar  bird  in  appear- 
ance, is  a  much  larger  form,  with  white  upon  its  wings,  and  with 
some  other  differences  in  its  plumage.  Ampelis  phoenicoptertix,  of 
southeastern  Siberia  and  Japan,  is  a  Waxwing  that  resembles  the 
Bohemian,  but  instead  of  the  yellow  tips  to  the  feathers  of  the 


FIG.  72.     CEDAR  WAXWING  (Ampelis  cedrorum). 

Photograph  from  life. 


FIG.  73.     CEDAR  BIRD  (Ampelis  cedrorum). 

Ad.    $      Life  size,  from  living  specimen.     From  a  photograph  by  the  Author. 


OF  THE  UNITED  STATES  297 

tail  and  wings,  they  are  red,  and  the  waxy  ornaments  are  ab- 
sent. 

Cedar  birds  are  also  known  as  cherry  birds  in  some  localities, 
and  in  other  parts  as  chatterers;  this  latter  name  being  totally 
unmerited,  as  we  have  but  few  birds  so  silent  by  nature,  being 
almost  devoid  of  either  note  or  song.  They  say  the  Cedar  Mrd  has 
lost  the  desire  to  sing  from  the  fact  that  owing  to  its  voracious 
appetite  for  berries,  and  its  throat  being  constantly  choked  with 
them,  no  time  can  be  given  to  any  such  accomplishment. 

The  name  chatterer  came  first  to  be  applied  to  the  Bohemian 
Waxwing  from  a  misinterpretation  of  the  word  garrulus,  the  spe- 
cific term  of  its  name.  In  certain  parts  of  Europe  the  cinnamon- 
brown  of  the  Waxwing  was  a  reminder  of  the  somewhat  similar 
color  of  their  Jay  (Garrulus  glandarius),  a  very  garrulous  bird,  to 
be  sure,  and  a  chatterer  by  nature.  Waxwings  are  crested  like 
Jays,  hence  its  specific  name,  and  hence,  too,  the  confusion  and 
mistranslation  and  application  of  its  real  English  meaning. 
When  grouped  together  the  Waxwings  constitute  the  family  Am- 
pelidw,  and  they  probably  see  their  nearest  allies  in  this  country 
in  our  Phainopepla  (Phainopepla  nitens),  of  the  southwestern 
parts  of  the  United  States.  Bohemian  Waxwings — found  in 
northern  United  States  in  winter — are  extremely  erratic  birds 
in  their  migrations,  often  visiting  certain  localities  suddenly  and 
in  vast  numbers.  Thirty-five  years  ago  Kennicott  found  it  breed- 
ing on  the  Yukon,  in  Alaska. 

Toward  the  middle  of  June  the  Cedar  birds  disperse  over  the 
country  in  pairs  to  breed.  They  usually  build  in  cedar,  chestnut, 
or  orchard  trees,  a  somewhat  bulky  nest,  placed  in  a  fork  from 
ten  to  thirty  feet  from  the  ground.  They  lay  some  three  or  four 
beautiful  bluish  white  eggs,  which  are  handsomely  marked,  and 
the  young  are  hatched  on  or  about  the  first  of  July.  These  latter 
are  peculiar  little  fellows  with  spotted  or  coarsely  streaked 
breasts,  and  they  have  a  habit  of  sitting  bolt  upright,  with  their 
heads  and  necks  stretched  out  to  their  utmost  lengths  in  a  line 
with  the  axis  of  their  bodies.  While  thus  posed — and  the  adults 
are  likewise  given  to  this  habit — they  are  perfectly  motionless 
and  silent.  I  have  fine  photographs  of  both  old  and  young  while 
assuming  this  attitude.  Parent  cedar  birds  first  feed  their  young 
upon  insects  and  larva?,  but  as  the  latter  grow,  upon  various 
kinds  of  berries. 

Often  near  eventide,  I  have  noticed  a  small  flock  of  Cedar  birds 


298  CHAPTERS    ON    THE    NATURAL    HISTORY 

in  the  liuibs  of  some  tall,  isolated  tree,  while  ever  and  anon,  first 
one  individual  and  then  another,  or  even  perhaps  two  or  three 
at  a  time,  will  launch  listlessly  off  their  perches,  and  sail  silently 
and  obliquely  upward  into  the  air,  to  capture  insects  upon  the 
wing  that  they  may  observe  from  a  few  to  some  fifteen  or  twenty 
feet  or  more  from  the  tree  occupied  by  the  flock.  This  practice 
they  will  keep  up  for  an  hour  or  more,  and  the  sight  is  a  very  in- 
teresting one  to  the  beholder. 

Comparatively  speaking,  we  find  but  few  nests  of  the  Cedar 
bird,  owing  to  the  muteness  of  the  species  and  its  habit  of  flying 
awray  upon  the  slightest  alarm  and  at  a  distance  watching  the  in- 
truder. The  latter  may  even  examine  either  eggs  or  young  with- 
out the  parents  coming  near,  much  less  exhibiting  any  concern 
or  distress. 

Frequently  in  the  fall  and  winter  these  birds  are  shot  for  the 
market  and  the  table.  At  this  season  they  are  often  very  fat, 
and  quite  as  palatable  as  a  Keed  bird.  They  usually  fly  in  dense 
flocks,  and  the  present  writer  has  killed  as  many  as  fifty  or  sixty 
at  a  discharge  of  a  double-barrel  gun. 

Wilson,  who  has  written  one  of  the  most  truthful  accounts  of 
the  Cedar  bird  that  I  have  ever  had  the  pleasure  of  reading,  says 
this  "species  is  also  found  in  Canada, where  it  is  called  Eecollect, 
probably,  as  Dr.  Latham  supposes,  from  the  color  and  appear- 
ance of  its  crest  resembling  the  hood  of  an  order  of  friars  of  that 
denomination."  It  may  be  also  said  here  that  the  species  bears  a 
variety  of  different  names  throughout  Mexico,  Central  America, 
and  the  West  Indies,  in  the  parts  of  those  countries  where  the 
bird  is  distributed. 

Speaking  of  the  nidification  of  the  cedar  birds  reminds  me  of 
the  homes  that  other  of  our  feathered  favorites  build  for  them- 
selves, and  among  these  I  recall  the  nest  that  the  Wood  Thrush 
builds,  and,  one  afternoon  last  summer,  as  the  lovely  month  of 
May  was  drawing  to  a  close,  I  had  rambled  a  half  mile  or  more 
away  from  my  home,  over  the  low  hills  of  southern  Maryland,  to 
a  spot  where  a  pair  of  whip-poor-wills  had  been  observed  the 
evening  before,  and  wrhere  I  was  led  to  believe  their  eggs  might 
be  found. 

The  air  was  balmy  to  a  fault,  and  the  piece  of  woods  I  was  in, 
radiant  and  lovely  with  all  that  makes  the  budding  summer  so 
< -lu rming.  Chestnuts,  maples,  gums,  and  many  other  beautiful 
trees  were  in  full  and  delicate  leaf,  while  beneath  mv  feet  the 


FIG.  74.     A  PAIR  OF  CEDAR  BIRDS.     Ad.   $  and  9 

(Lower  figure  male.)    Reduced  one-third.     From  photograph  of  living  specimens  \>y  the  Author. 


OF  THE  UNITED  STATES  301 

ground  was  carpeted  with  an  hundred  and  one  plants  or  mosses, 
and  other  "'  things  that  growin  the  woods,''  upon  which  it  seemed 
almost  a  sacrilege  to  step,  or  crush  beneath  one's  feet. 

Hope  of  finding  the  object  of  my  search  had  been  abandoned, 
although  the  female  bird  had  been  flushed.  In  turning  to  retrace 
my  steps  homeward,  I  chanced  to  peer  among  the  trees  that  tim- 
bered a  considerable  hollow  directly  below  where  I  stood."  The 
sun  poured  its  generous  rays  down  in  there,  and  the  new,  fresh 
leaves  of  the  half-grown  maples  appeared  almost  a  livid  green, 
as,  motionless,  they  seemed  really  to  revel  in  the  warm  solar 
bath.  Thirty  feet  or  more  beyond  me  there  flourished  a  particu- 
larly handsome  tree  of  this  kind,  and  as  I  gazed  at  it  in  my  admi- 
ration of  its  sylvan  beauty,  my  eye  caught  the  sight  of  a  new- 
made  nest  in  its  first  fork,  and  upon  this  sat  its  owner,  that  most 
winning  of  all  the  thrushes  known  to  me,  the  Wood  Thrush.  With 
her  great,  warm  eyes  she  watched  my  every  movement,  and  I,  in 
turn,  enjoyed  to  the  fullest  extent  her  avian  charms.  No  wonder 
her  mate  had  fallen  in  love  with  her,  for  was  ever  a  creamy  white 
breast  more  elegantly  dappled  with  great,  round,  brown  spots, 
any  one  of  which  would  vie  with  the  mole  upon  the  alabaster 
shoulder  of  the  veriest  Venus  alive;  or  did  the  sun  ever  shine 
upon  a  back  of  any  rarer,  or  any  richer  russet  than  hers?  She 
permitted  me  to  come  very  close  to  her,  but  then  taking  alarm, 
she  appeared  in  an  instant  upon  the  edge  of  her  nest,  and  in  the 
next  moment  darted  through  the  trees  and  was  gone. 

Passing  my  hand  into  her  warm  nest,  I  found  it  to  contain 
three  eggs  of  a  uniform  light  blue  color,  and  without  any  further 
disturbance  I  withdrew.  On  another  day  the  spot  was  revisited 
by  me,  and  this  time  my  lady  exhibited  a  far  greater  degree  of 
concern,  and  her  cries  soon  "  called  the  neighbors  in."  There 
were  now  two  callow  nestlings  in  the  place  of  the  three  eggs  for- 
merly seen;  and  they  crouched  very  low,  and,  side  by  side,  were 
as  rigid  as  two  lifeless  little  models  during  my  entire  examina- 
tion of  them. 

Lifting  one  of  these  turdine  babies  out,  by  seizing  hold  of  its 
delicate  flesh-colored  legs,  its  entire  demeanor  at  once  changed, 
for  'twixt  struggles,  squeals,  and  squalls,  it  raised  a  merry  row, 
that  at  least  had  the  effect  of  causing  the  parents  and  their  sym- 
pathizers to  redouble  their  bewailments,  and  so  far  excite  my 
compassion  that  I  soon  replaced  the  little  scamp  in  the  nest. 

A  few  days  after  this  event  I  was  enabled  to  get  a  fine  photo- 


302  CHAPTERS    ON    THE    NATURAL    HISTORY 


graph  of  this  entire  structure  in  x/7w,  with  the  thrushlings  in  it 
fast  asleep.  It  represents  a  typical  specimen  of  the  nest  of  this 
species,  and  the  bird  seems  to  have  followed  a  certain  plan  of 
building  for  many  years.  Upon  carefully  observing  this  plan, 
and  taking  cognizance  of  the  materials  employed,  I  find  it  to 
agree  exactly  with  a  description  of  the  Wood  Thrush's  nest  given 
us  by  the  observant  Wilson,  perhaps  full  ninety  years  ago.  He 
said  :  "  Outwardly  it  is  composed  of  withered  beech  leaves  of 
the  preceding  year,  laid  at  bottom  in  considerable  quantities,  no 
doubt  to  prevent  damp  and  moisture  from  ascending  through, 
being  generally  built  in  low,  wet  situations  ;  above  there  are  lay- 
ers of  knotty  stalks  of  withered  grass,  mixed  with  mud,  and 
smoothly  plastered,  above  which  is  laid  a  slight  lining  of  fine, 
black,  fibrous  roots  of  plants."  Surely  it  is  a  remarkable  fact 
that  this  species  should  always  use  in  the  basic  structure  of  its 
nest  the  "  withered  beech  leaves  of  the  preceding  year,"  and  not 
occasionally  select  something  else.  Yet  they  never  seem  to,  in 
this  latitude,  at  least.  I  suppose,  where  they  breed  in  the  far 
south,  and  where,  perhaps,  beech  trees  do  not  grow,  they  are 
obliged  to  choose  otherwise,  and  it  would  be  interesting  to  know 
more  about  this. 

Notice  in  my  photograph  (Fig.  75)  how  beautifully  the  horizon- 
tally expanded  maple  leaves  growing  above  this  nest  shade  its 
tender  inmates  from  the,  perhaps,  too  warm  sun's  rays  of  early 
summer.  This  canopy  must  likewise  be  grateful  to  the  sitting 
parent  during  the  time  she  covers  her  eggs  and  performs  her 
incubatory  duties. 

Birds'  nests  are  difficult  and  extremely  tedious  objects  for  the 
ornithological  artist  to  draw,  and  I  dare  say  more  or  less  sur- 
prise would  be  expressed  by  Wilson,  were  it  possible  for  him  to 
see  my  photograph  of  the  nest  of  this  species,  and  know  that 
such  an  accurate  representation  of  it  had  been  secured  by  me  in 
the  fraction  of  a  second.  Most  of  the  pictures  of  birds'  nests 
that  I  have  seen  in  works  devoted  to  such  subjects,  where  they 
have  been  reproduced  from  hand  drawings,,  have  been  very  un- 
natural looking  affairs.  They  never  fail  to  remind  me  of  the 
story  of  the  little  boy  who  showed  his  father  his  juvenile  attempt 
to  depict  one  of  these  objects.  His  father,  after  contemplating 
the  work  of  art  for  several  minutes  with  marked  care  and  pride, 
and  being  after  all  at  a  total  loss  to  perceive  what  it  was  intended 
to  represent,  exclaimed:  "Yes,  my  son,  that  is  capital;  to  have 


FIG.  75.     NEST  OF  WOOD  THRUSH  (Turdus  mustelinus'). 

Reduced.    From  a  photograph  by  the  Author. 


OF    THE    UNITED    STATES  305 

been  done  by  one  so  young,  it  is  the  best  drawing  of  a  cyclone 
that  I  have  ever  seen." 

One  of  the  most  extraordinary  things  about  young  thrushes  is 
to  observe  the  rapidity  with  which  they  grow.  Those  which  I 
have  kept — and  there  have  been  many  of  them — and  fed  upon  in- 
sects and  bird  food,  have  thriven  marvelously.  They  by^  a_week's 
growth  double  their  bulk,  and  from  not  handsome,  pinfeather- 
bedecked  younglings,  they  pass  into  a  stage  when  they  become 
very  trim  and  pretty  little  fellows.  One  at  about  this  period  of 
its  existence  I  have  likewise  made  a  photographic  picture  of, 
and  its  reproduction  is  well  shown  in  Fig.  76.  About  this  time 
they  require  not  a  little  care  and  attention,  being  hearty  eaters, 
and  but  slowly  become  accustomed  to  cage  life.  Once  reared, 
however,  a  wood  thrush  is  an  elegant  bird  for  a  pet — beautiful 
in  plumage,  graceful  in  demeanor,  and  rich  in  vocal  powers. 

The  supreme  admiration  in  which  I  held  the  Wood  Thrush,  as 
a  boy,  has  by  no  means  diminished  with  advancing  years.  In- 
deed, I  believe  my  appreciation  of  him  is  greater  now  than  it  was 
then.  Prince  of  thrushes,  he  has  no  peer  in  all  this  land,  save  the 
Mocking  bird;  and,  for  one,  I  must  believe  that  in  reality  he  is  a 
handsomer  bird  even  than  old  Mimus  himself.  Plump  in  form, 
and  with  fluffy  feathering;  delicately  fashioned  legs,  of  a  clear 
flesh  color;  an  unusually  broad  tail;  dainty,  yet  dignified  in  car- 
riage; and  with  an  extremely  attractive  general  contour,  made 
the  more  so  by  the  possession  of  such  large  and  expressive  brown 
eyes — surely,  he  stands  without  a  rival  amidst  all  the  Turdidce. 
Above,  his  feathers  take  on  a  rich  fulvous  color,  that  passes  to 
a  bright  reddish  on  the  crown,  and  to  a  fine  brown  olivaceous  on 
rump  and  tail.  Beneath  he  is  white,  the  throat  and  breast  being 
tinged  with  a  cream  buffy.  Upon  either  side,  from  the  angles  of 
the  mouth,  pass  down  a  chain  of  blackish  flecks;  these  becoming 
gradually  larger,  spread  out  finally  over  all  the  breast  as  an  ele- 
gant array  of  rounded  or  subtriangular  spots.  The  white  belly 
is  only  in  part  similarly  ornamented,  and  they  cease  entirely  be- 
fore arriving  at  the  vent.  Inside,  the  mouth  is  a  clear,  fine  yel- 
low, while  the  beak  is  a  dusky  brown,  being  much  higher  colored 
at  the  base  of  the  lower  mandible.  On  top  of  the  head  the  feath- 
ers are  inclined  to  be  a  little  longish,  and  these,  as  well  as  those 
of  the  rump,  he  has  a  way  of  elevating  when  anything  especially 
interests  him,  and  that  in  a  manner  quite  fascinating  to  the  ad- 
mirer of  the  behavior  of  birds  of  this  kind.  Withal,  he  is  an  un- 


306  CHAPTERS    ON    THE    NATURAL    HISTORY 

doubted  beauty,  nor  do  his  Charms  cease  here,  for  as  a  songster 
he  commands  a  talent  and  a  power  peculiarly  his  own.  None  of 
our  avian  performers  possess  the  wonderful  ringing,  bell-like 
notes  of  the  Wood  Thrush.  Usually  he  is  silent  in  the  middle  part 
of  the  day,  unless,  perchance,  it  be  a  gray  day,  when — as  is  in- 
variably the  rule  for  him  morning  and  evening — he  will  mount 
to  the  top  of  some  tree  taller  than  the  surrounding  ones  in  some 
dense  piece  of  timber  land,  and  from  there  he  will  pour  out,  in 
mellow,  reverberating  cadence,  his  several  flute-like  notes,  with 
a  peculiar  rippling  harmony  that  once  heard  can  never  be  forgot- 
ten. They  are  soon  answered  hither  and  far  in  the  forest  by  rival 
performers  of  the  same  species,  and  that  with  an  apparently  in- 
creasing ardor  and  ecstasy,  until  one  can  almost  believe  these 
feathered  challengers  are  vieing  with  each  other  in  their  efforts 
to  produce  the  swreetest  and  softest  responses.  They  close  only 
as  night  draws  on,  first  one  bird  and  then  another  rendering  its 
clear,  quavering  finale,  as  a  parting  good-night,  to  tranquillize 
the  mind  of  the  weary  rambler  as  he  trudges  homeward,  after  a 
long  and  pleasurable  day  spent  far  afield. 

Be  it  said  here  that  next  to  the  fact  that  all  birds  possess  feath- 
ers, is  the  common  character  that  every  representative  of  this 
group  of  vertebrates  lay  eggs,  from  the  hatching  of  which  their 
young  are  brought  forth.  No  such  corresponding  rules  can  be 
drawn  in  the  case  of  mammals,  however,  for  there  are  mammals 
in  existence  that  do  not  possess  hair,  as  some  of  the  whales  for 
example;  nor  do  they  all  bring  forth  their  young  alive,  as  the 
Monotremes,  of  Australia  and  the  East  Indies,  lay  eggs  from 
which  the  young  are  produced. 

Now,  although  all  birds  lay  eggs,  the  places  where  those  eggs 
are  deposited  for  hatching  are  nearly  as  various  as  the  species  of 
birds  themselves,  surely  far  more  so  than  the  number  of  families 
of  the  class.  Not  confining  ourselves  to  any  particular  country, 
we  may  have  in  the  first  place  plenty  of  species  of  birds  that 
make  no  nests  at  all  to  contain  their  eggs.  They  simply  lay 
them  upon  the  bare  rocks,  or  the  ground.  Most  all  those  marine 
forms  known  as  auks  have  this  habit  well  marked,  as  do  a  great 
many  other  species  among  the  lower  groups,  as  for  example  the 
albatrosses.  Bennett,  in  describing  the  King  penguins  of  Mar 
quarrie  island,  in  the  south  Pacific  ocean,  said:  "The  females 
hatch  the  eggs  by  keeping  them  close  between  the  thighs,  and  if 
approached  during  the  time  of  incubation,  move  away,  carrying 
their  ejrjrs  with  them." 


FIG.  76.     YOUNG  WOOD  THRUSH  (T.  mustelinus), 

Slightly  reduced.     From  a  photograph  from  life  by  the  Author. 


OF    THE    UNITED    STATES  309 

Passing  to  other  sea  fowl  and  shore  birds,  we  soon  meet  with 
species  that  form  a  very  slender  nest  upon  the  ground.  This 
may  vary  all  the  way  from  a  shallow  excavation  the  bird  scoops 
out  to  contain  its  eggs,  to  where  they,  in  other  species,  use  an 
extremely  meager  supply,  of  some  material,  as  grass  or  moss,  to 
form  a  very  slender  nest  in  the  aforesaid  hollow.  These  ^re-  rudi- 
mentary ground  nests  of  the  simplest  character ;  and  many  gulls, 
snipe,  plover,  and  their  kin,  never  construct  any  other  kind.  On 
the  other  hand  the  puffins  dig  a  shallow  burrow  for  themselves, 
or  they  may  occupy  the  burrow  of  some  animal — as  that  of  a 
rabbit — in  which  to  lay  their  single  egg  for  hatching  (Frater- 
cula) ;  while  many  cormorants  build  quite  a  massive  nest  of  sea- 
weed upon  the  rocks  near  the  sea,  and  lay  several  eggs. 

Flamingoes — birds  related  to  certain  waders  upon  one  hand 
and  to  the  swans,  geese,  and  their  allies  upon  the  other — con- 
struct upon  the  ground  a  most  remarkable  nest,  totally  unlike 
anything  found  in  either  group.  It  is  several  feet  high  and  com- 
posed of  mud,  with  a  shallow  excavation  at  the  smaller  end  on 
top,  in  which  the  eggs  of  this  species  are  laid. 

Still  more  singular  are  the  habits  of  the  megapodes  of  some 
parts  of  the  Australian  region.  These  birds,  as  a  rule,  are  about 
as  large  as  a  ptarmigan,  and  they  bury  their  eggs  in  the  ground, 
or  else  cover  them  over  with  a  mound  of  earth,  sticks,  leaves, 
and  similar  material.  In  these  situations  the  young  are  hatched 
out  without  any  assistance  from  the  old  birds,  and  the  former  are 
highly  developed  at  birth,  being  full-feathered  and  fully  capable 
of  caring  for  themselves. 

Most  ducks,  geese,  and  swans  build  their  nests  upon  the  ground 
near  the  water's  edge,  but  in  Africa  they  have  at  least  one  species 
of  goose  that  builds  high  up  in  trees,  while  our  own  common 
woodduck  builds  in  the  hollow  trunk  of  some  dead  tree,  or  usu- 
ally in  a  hollow,  horizontal  limb  many  feet  above  the  ground. 

As  we  pass  to  some  of  the  higher  groups  of  birds,  we  meet  with 
quite  a  number  that  build  or  lay  their  eggs  in  the  hollows  o'f 
trees.  These  hollows  may  simply  be  the  natural  ones,  or  the  nat- 
ural ones  cleaned  out  by  the  birds;  or  they  may  be  excavations 
made  wholly  by  the  birds  themselves,  as  among  the  woodpeck- 
ers. Among  some  of  the  great  hornbills  of  the  east  we  find  cer- 
tain species  that  breed  in  holes  of  trees,  and  the  male  bird,  after 
the  hen  begins  to  sit,  plasters  up  the  entrance  with  mud,  leaving 
only  a  small  hole,  through  which  he  feeds  her  during  the  time 
incubation  lasts. 


310  CHAPTERS    ON    THE    NATURAL    HISTORY 

Many  of  the  herons  and  their  allies  build  great  rough  nests 
of  sticks  and  twigs  in  tall  trees,  several  pairs  building  on  the 
same  tree.  The  habit  of  the  storks  of  Europe  of  constructing 
their  nests  on  chimney  tops  is  well  known,  while  some  of  the 
nests  of  the  African  and  Oriental  species  of  this  group  are  most 
remarkable  affairs. 

In  the  days  when  our  wild  pigeons  were  in  millions  in  this 
country,  they  frequently  built  as  many  as  150  nests  in  one  tree, 
legions  of  these  birds  congregating  together  in  the  forests  for  the 
purpose  during  the  breeding  season,  and  hundreds  of  trees  were 
thus  occupied.  Parrots,  as  a  rule,  lay  five  or  six  eggs  in  the  hol- 
low trunks  of  dead  or  decayed  trees,  making  little  or  no  nest. 
But  when  we  come  to  study  such  forms  as  the  European  cuckoo, 
or  our  own  Cow  blackbird,  an  entirely  new  departure  is  met  with, 
for  these  birds  never  make  any  nest  of  their  own  at  all,  prefer- 
ring to  lay  their  eggs  in  the  nests  of  other  species,  where  they  are 
hatched  and  the  young  ones  reared  by  the  foster  parent. 

Quite  a  number  of  our  vireos  build  beautiful  pensile  nests, 
twixt  the  forks  of  some  small  branch  of  a  low  tree.  In  Fig.  77  I 
present  a  photograph  of  one  of  these  neat  nests  from  my  own  col- 
lection. Strange  to  say,  it  only  contained  one  young  at  the  time 
of  its  discovery.  This  bird  is  abundant  in  eastern  North 
America. 

Various  species  of  humming  birds  build  nests  that  are  truly 
wonders  as  examples  of  avian  architecture.  Some  are  extremely 
small;  some  are  pensile,  others  are  sessile;  many  closely  mimic 
their  surroundings,  as  the  knots  or  other  growths  upon  trees; 
often  they  are  most  delicately  constructed,  and  covered  over  with 
moss  or  lichens;  finally,  there  are  others  of  odd  shapes.  It  would 
be  simply  out  of  the  question  to  pretend  to  give  even  a  brief  de- 
scription of  a  few  of  these  remarkable  structures,  and  the  num- 
ber of  species  of  humming  birds  now  known  to  naturalists  runs 
far  into  the  hundreds. 

What  may  be  deemed  a  conventional  "  nest,"  as  built  by  an 
average  small  bird,  is  well  exemplified  in  any  of  those  con- 
structed by  many  of  our  common  sparrows,  finches,  buntings, 
and  their  kin.  A  very  neat  one  is  seen  in  the  nest  of  our  little 
Indigo  bunting  (Passerma  cyanea),  and  one  of  these  I  have  pho- 
tographed in  situ  to  illustrate  the  kind  usually  built  in  a  small 
tree,  bush,  or  thicket.  It  is  composed  of  dry  leaves,  grasses, 
fibers,  and  finer  materials  for  a  lining.  In  the  case  of  this  nest 


^^•n^H 


FIG.  77.     NEST  AND  YOUNG  OF  THE  RED-EYED  VIREO  (Vireo 

ollvaceuii). 

Photographed  natural  size  from  life  by  the  Author. 


OF  THE  UNITED  STATES   ^r_          313 

the  birds  did  not  place  it  close  down  in  the  fork;  other  fringilline 
species  do;  while  many  others,  as  some  sparrows  and  townees, 
build  on  or  very  near  the  ground. 

All  of  the  passerine  birds,  however,  by  no  means  build  these 
conventional  nests,  for  many  of  the  orioles,  for  example,  con- 
struct pendent,  pouch-like  affairs,  with  an  opening  at- or  near 
the  top,  the  structure,  as  a  whole,  hanging  from  the  extremity 
of  the  slender,  waving  twiglets  of  such  trees  as  the  willows,  or 
similar  varieties  where  these  do  not  occur. 

In  Africa  and  India  we  meet  with  many  genera  and  species  of 
small  birds  that  have  been  familiarly  called  weaver  birds  from 
the  very  fact  that  they  do  weave  such  ingenious  as  well  as  curi- 
ous nests.  For  example,  in  the  genus  Euplectes,  we  find  a  bird 
weaves  a  nest  having  the  form  of  a  chemist's  retort.  This  is 
swung  at  the  extremities  of  the  twigs  of  any  willow-like  tree  in 
such  a  manner  that  the  globular  portion  is  uppermost,  while 
the  elongated  neck  just  clears  the  water  beneath.  By  such  a 
contrivance  the  eggs  of  this  species  are  comparatively  safe 
against  the  attacks  of  monkeys  and  snakes. 

Still  more  remarkable  are  the  nests  of  the  sociable  weavers, 
birds  which  unite  in  a  community  of  several  hundreds,  and  in 
some  tree  construct  a  common  thatch  roof,  often  as  much  as  ten 
feet  square,  under  which  they  build  their  nests  in  common.  An 
entire  chapter  might  be  written  upon  the  habits  in  this  particu- 
lar of  this  species,  but  the  limitations  of  space  forbids  it  in  the 
present  connection.  Related  species  to  these  African  weavers 
also  make  the  most  remarkable  specimens  of  architecture.  The 
Bengal  weaver  bird  also  makes  a  purse-shaped  nest,  suspending 
it  over  the  water.  Each  year  it  weaves  a  new  nest  to  this,  at- 
taching it  below,  so  that  in  a  few  years  a  number  of  them  are 
strung  together,  giving  the  entire  structure  the  appearance  of  a 
cylinder  of  woven  grass,  with  bulbous  enlargements  at  various 
intervals. 

Many  of  the  warblers,  the  kinglets,  the  wrens,  and  others  con- 
struct wonderful  nests.  Our  marsh  wrens  also  make  what  are  gen- 
erally termed  "  cock  nests,"  in  which  the  birds  do  not  lay,  but 
are  built  here  and  there  about  the  real  or  occupied  nest,  appar- 
ently with  no  other  object  than  to  deceive  those  searching  for 
their  eggs.  East  India  has  its  tailor  bird  (8.  sutoria  Lath.j,  that 
as  a  means  of  deception,  actually  sews  with  a  thread  the  living 
leaves  about  its  pouch-like  nest  together  in  such  a  manner  as  to 
completely  conceal  it. 


314  CHAPTERS    ON    THE    NATURAL    HISTORY 

Titmice  often  construct  long,  pendulous  nests,  and  many  swal- 
lows and  swifts  attach  their  nests  to  the  surfaces  of  various 
kinds,  the  nests  being  really  but  half  a  nest.  As  examples  of  this 
we  have  our  common  Barn  swallow  and  the  Chimney  swift.  The 
latter,  however,  uses  only  small  twigs  for  the  purpose,  and  these 
are  made  to  adhere  together  by  the  aid  of  an  adhesive  secretion, 
the  product  of  two  glands  possessed  by  the  bird  that  are  in  some 
respects  analogous  to  salivary  glands. 

The  nests  of  the  Esculent  swrift  (Collocalia  esculenta),  so  exten- 
sively used  as  an  article  of  food  in  China,  are  somewhat  of  this 
variety.  Entire  books  have  been  written  about  the  nidification 
of  this  extraordinary  species.  Unique  nests  are  likewise  made 
by  the  famous  Hornero  (Furnarius  rufus),  or  Oven  bird;  the 
Water  ousel  (Cinclus),  the  Hammer-head  (Scopus) ,  and  a  perfect 
host  of  others.  Nests  as  made  by  hundreds  of  other  birds,  as,  for 
example,  the  birds  of  paradise  and  other  East  Indian  forms  too 
numerous  to  mention,  are  as  yet  entirely  unknown  to  science,  nor 
have  our  naturalists  as  much  as  even  seen  them. 


FIG.  78.     NEST  AND  YOUNG  OF  THE  INDIGO  BUNTING. 

From  a  photograph  taken  by  the  Author.     Natural  size,  from  life. 


OHAPTP:R  xxu. 

THE  AMERICAN  WARBLERS  AND   SPARROWS. 

(Mntdtiltidce  and  Fringillidce.) 

ANY  naturalists  and  classifiers  of  vertebrate  forms  rec- 
ognize in  birds  an  Order  Oscines,  or  those  representa- 
tives of  the  Class  Aves  that  are  distinguished  by  the 
possession  of  true  song-muscles.  In  natural  classifi- 
cation, however,  the  Oscines  form  but  a  suborder  of  vertebrates, 
but  class  the  group  as  we  may,  the  fact  still  remains,  that  in  so 
far  as  the  United  States  avifauna  is  concerned  at  least,  two  of 
the  largest  families  we  have  represented  in  the  passerine  group, 
or  oscines,  are  the  warblers  and  the  fringilline  assemblage,  or 
Sparrow-finch  family. 

In  the  present  chapter  it  is  your  author's  aim  to  say  something 
in  regard  to  the  number,  habits,  migrations,  and  characteristics 
of  these  two  numerous  families  of  birds,  namely,  the  Warblers 
of  the  family  Mniotiltidce,  and  the  Sparrow-finch  assemblage  of 
the  family  Fringillidce. 

Everyone  that  knows  anything  of  United  States  ornithology, 
knows  that  the  great  bulk  of  our  birds  pass  south  during  the  fall 
to  remain  until  spring,  when  they  return  to  breed.  Millions  of 
both  land-  and  water-birds  perform  these  autumnal  and  vernal 
migrations  every  year.  Many,  but  not  all,  pass  as  far  south  as 
the  West  Indies  and  South  America,  every  autumn;  many,  but 
not  all,  migrate  as  far  north  every  spring  as  the  Canadas,  while 
some,  especially  the  water  fowl,  may  go  even  as  far  north  as  the 
circumpolar  regions.  Similar  migrations  of  birds  take  place  in 
the  Old  World,  and,  moreover,  the  phenomena  hold  true  for  the 
avifaunse  of  the  southern  hemisphere.  If  one  should  slowly 
travel  from  Maine  to  Florida  during  the  months  of  March,  April, 
and  May,  carefully  observing  the  birds  along  the  route,  in  all 
kinds  of  localities,  that  traveler  would  find  that  as  he  gradually 
passed  southward,  new  bird-forms  were  constantly  being  met 
with  not  found  in  the  regions  left  behind.  In  other  words,  for 
reasons  or  laws  little  or  not  at  all  known  to  us,  birds,  or  rather 
certain  birds,  have  their  normal  limits,  some  species  during  the 
spring  migration  coming  so  far  north  but  no  farther.  So,  too, 
with  the  northern  forms.  For  example,  in  the  fall  migration, 


318  CHAPTERS    ON    THE    NATURAL    HISTORY 

snowy  owls  might  pass  as  far  south  as  the  middle,  or  even  south- 
central  part  of  the  country,  whereas  the  great  gray  owls  would 
not  be  found  south  of  the  Great  Lakes.  Exceptional  stragglers, 
of  course,  violate  these  laws  occasionally,  and  instances  may  oc- 
cur where  a  bird  is  taken  way  off  its  range,  far  from  its  normal 
habitat,  but  just  why  the  Swainson  wrarblers  in  the  spring  come 
no  further  north  than  southern  Virginia,  while  the  Yellow  war- 
blers (D.  cestiva)  will  extend  their  migration  at  the  same  time  as 
far  north  as  the  fur  countries,  is  something  that,  as  yet,  no  one 
has  satisfactorily  explained.  On  the  Pacific  coast,  and  through- 
out the  great  central  valley  of  the  Mississippi,  the  same  phenom- 
ena confront  us.  Then  in  nearly  all  geographical  areas  there  are 
a  few  birds  that  are  resident,  or  never  perform  ordinarily  any 
migrational  passages  at  all,  but  remain  the  year  round  in  the 
land  of  their  birth.  We  have  a  great  deal  to  learn  in  these  prem- 
ises yet;  in  fact,  we  have  but  very  little  information  as  to  the 
causes  or  the  origin  of  facts  such  as  have  here  been  pointed  out. 

Now  if  one,  familiar  perhaps  only  with  our  better  known  birds, 
— as  robins,  jays,  flickers,  chewinks,  and  the  like,  will  take  the 
pains  some  morning  at  daylight  to  go  into  the  forests,  and  along 
the  timber-lined  streams,  either  in  the  spring  or  autumn,  that 
person  will  be  surprised  at  the  host  of  various  species  and  sub- 
species that  swarm  in  the  tree-tops  and  in  the  undergrowth,  the 
great  majority  of  which  average  about  the  size  of  a  chippy  spar- 
row, and  are  quite  unknown  to  him.  If  the  student  undertake  to 
collect  these,  say  in  any  favorable  region  in  the  mid-Atlantic 
States'  district,  he  will  soon  find,  as  his  collection  runs  up  into 
the  hundreds,  that  there  will  be  a  long  series  of  the  small  varie- 
ties to  which  I  have  just  made  reference.  They  have  a  great 
similarity  of  form  and  size;  some  are  exquisitely  beautiful  in 
plumage  (especially  the  male  in  nearly  all  cases);  while,  apart 
from  a  few  individual  specific  habits,  the  behavior  of  all,  in  their 
haunts,  is  nearly  the  same.  Omitting  such  species  as  the  kinglets, 
the  tits,  wrens,  vireos,  and,  of  course,  all  the  fringilline  birds, 
and  some  of  the  smaller  flycatchers  and  pewees,  we  can  safely 
say,  in  so  far  as  the  passerine  species  go,  that  the  residue  of  this 
extensive  group  belongs  to  the  great  American  family  MnlntU- 
ti(hi\  or  the  Warblers. 

Taken  together  there  are  certainly  in  this  country  some  sixty- 
four  or  sixty-five  species  and  subspecies  of  these  warblers;  and 
in  thus  reckoning,  the  water-thrushes  and  chats  (8-htrns  and  Tctc- 


OF    THE    UNITED    STATES  319 

ria)  are  not  considered,  as  they  do  not  properly  belong  within  the 
lines  drawn.  They  have,  to  be  sure,  been  placed  there  in  the  A. 
O.  U.  Check  List,  but  I  expect  that  that  was  done  because  the 
compilers  of  that  volume  knew  of  no  other  taxonomic  position 
for  them.  As  the  male,  and  female  in  nearly  all  warblers,  or  at 
least  in  a  great  many  of  them,  have  a  different  pattern:  a»d  color- 
ation of  plumage,  this,  in  a  collection  of  them,  makes  the  forms 
appear  to  be  even  still  more  abundant;  while,  in  the  autumn, 
the  plumages  of  the  grown  young  are  often  likewise  different  and 
apparently  increase  the  number  of  kinds  yet  still  more.  Close 
study,  extending  over  many  seasons  can  alone  familiarize  the 
student  with  these  problems,  and  render  him  capable  of  selecting 
and  naming  (technically  and  in  English)  the  various  species  and 
subspecies  in  such  a  collection,  designating  at  the  same  time  the 
females  and  grown  young  in  their  various  plumage  phases.  Very 
few  American  ornithologists  indeed  can,  offhand,  perform  this 
feat  to-day,  and  if  the  young  plumages  are  entered  in  the  list,  it 
is  safe  to  say  that  there  is  no  one  living  that  can  do  it.  These 
warblers  may  be  classified  in  about  a  dozen  genera,  the  vast  ma- 
jority of  them  falling  in  the  genus  Dendroica,  it  containing  nearly 
thirty  specific  and  subspecific  forms;  while  about  a  dozen  occur 
in  the  genus  HelminthophUa,  and  nine  or  ten  in  Geothlypis,  and  so 
on, — some  genera  being  represented  by  only  one,  or  sometimes 
two  or  three,  birds.  Warblers  are  denizens  of  the  forests  and 
woods,  and  are  rarely  found  beyond  their  confines.  Hardly  one 
of  them  can  be  said  to  warble,  as  their  notes,  often  low  and  mo- 
notonous, in  no  way  partake  of  any  such  character  of  vocal 
music.  Some  of  their  notes  are  very  sweet,  however,  and  as  a 
whole  they  materially  add  to  the  great  avian  choir  of  sylvan  per- 
formers during  the  flood  of  the  vernal  migrations,  at  a  time  when 
the  entire  bird-host  is  in  full  song.  Most  of  these  birds  are  tree- 
lovers;  others  delight  in  the  more  humble  undergrowth;  while  a 
few  spend  the  greater  part  of  their  time  in  bramble  or  brake,  or 
even  upon  the  ground.  All  are  partial  to  a  great  variety  of  the 
smaller  insects  and  their  Iarva3;  and  of  such  food  they  are  almost 
constantly  in  search.  Indeed,  were  it  not  for  the  check  caused 
by  our  warblers,  many  insects  would  soon  swarm  to  an  alarming 
extent,  and  plant  life  would  suffer  accordingly.  A  great  many 
kinds  of  nests  are  built  by  these  birds,  as  a  rule  most  of  them 
being  tree-  or  shrub-builders,  and  exhibit  wonderful  taste  and 
delicacy  in  the  structures.  Great  ingenuity  is  also  shown  in  the 


320  CHAPTERS    ON    THE    NATURAL    HISTORY 

selection  of  sites,  and  it  is  the  exception  in  all  these  particulars 
to  find  a  warbler's  nest  that  is  not  a  real  object  of  beauty,  with 
lovely  surroundings.  Taken  as  a  group,  the  predominating  col- 
ors of  the  plumages  are  black,  white,  yellow,  brown,  olives,  blues, 
grays,  the  duller  greens,  but  very  rarely  any  of  the  reds  or  scar- 
let, or  other  intensity  of  coloration.  The  young  have  different 
plumages,  always  being  duller,  during  the  subadult  stages.  As 
a  rule,  warblers  lay  from  two  to  five  eggs,  or  three  to  four;  they 
are  usually  white,  and  exhibit  various  kinds  of  speckling.  Ridg- 
\vay  says  the  Black  and  White  warbler  (M.  varia)  embeds  its 
nest  in  the  ground  in  the  woods;  wrhile  the  beautiful  Prothono- 
tary  warbler  (P.  citrea)  selects  some  cavity  in  a  tree,  or  a  de- 
serted woodpecker's  nest,  the  site  being  always  near  the  water. 

At  different  times  I  have  succeeded  in  making  photographs  of 
a  few  of  the  warblers,  with  the  nests  and  young  of  others.  From 
these  I  select  two  examples  to  illustrate  the  present  chapter. 
The  first  of  these,  shown  in  Figure  76,  is  a  life-size  picture  of  a 
male  specimen  of  the  Black-poll  warbler  (Dendroica  striata),  a 
black  and  white  species,  that  during  some  years  is  very  abun- 
dant in  certain  localities.  Usually,  they  are  among  the  last  of  the 
family  to  arrive  in  the  spring,  coming  after  the  foliage  is  well 
advanced,  and,  at  first,  confining  themselves  to  the  tree-tops, 
but  subsequently  are  found  diligently  searching  for  their  favorite 
insects  among  the  lower  branches.  According  to  the  A.  O.  U. 
Check-List  the  geographical  range  of  this  species  is  "  eastern 
North  America,  west  to  the  Rocky  Mountains,  north  to  Green- 
land, the  Barren  Grounds,  and  Alaska,  breeding  from  northern 
New  England  and  the  Catskills  northward.  South  in  winter  to 
northern  South  America,  but  not  recorded  from  Mexico  or  Cen- 
tral America."  Wilson  never  saw  the  nest  of  this  species,  and 
gives  but  a  very  meager  account  of  the  bird.  What  there  is  of  it, 
however,  is  honest  and  correct,  and  this  is  more  than  can  be 
said  of  Audubon's  description.  Writing  of  the  latter,  Dr.  T.  M. 
Brewer  in  the  first  volume  of  The  American  Naturalist  (p.  120) 
says,  and  we  may  "  even  be  pardoned  if  we  enjoy  a  quiet  laugh 
over  some  [of  his]  conclusions,  now  known  to  be  visionary,  but 
which  his  exuberant  imagination,  now  and  then,  led  him  to  put 
into  printed  words."  It  seems  that  when  on  their  way  with  an 
exploring  party  to  Labrador,  they  stayed  several  days  at  East- 
port,  Maine.  One  morning  when  scrambling  round  through  the 
(or  thickets  of  trees  as  he  called  them)  with  his  son  John. 


a  I 

3  .1 

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I 


OF    THE    UNITED    STATES  323 

the  latter  flushed  a  female  Black-poll  warbler  from  her  nest. 
At  this  the  over-sanguine  rather  than  always  truthful,  father 
boiled  over,  and  in  his  record  he  wrote  the  following  words: 
"  Eeader,  just  fancy  how  this  raised  my  spirits.  I  felt  as  if  the 
enormous  expense  of  our  voyage  had  been  refunded.  There,  said 
I,  we  are  the  first  white  men  who  have  seen  such  a  nest/7  Com- 
menting upon  this  absurd  statement,  Dr.  Brewer  further  re- 
marks, "  But  when  we  know  that  Mr.  Audubon's  whole  party 
started  in  the  expedition  from  Eastport,  in  Maine,  where  they 
also  spent  several  days  before  they  commenced  their  voyage  to 
Labrador,  and  that  one  of  his  party  was  a  near  resident  to  East- 
port;  and  when  we  further  know  that  all  around  Eastport,  and 
especially  on  the  islands,  the  Black-poll  Warbler  is  one  of  the 
most  common  birds,  we  must  see  at  once  how  far  a  vivid  imagina- 
tion has  supplied  the  material  for  his  conclusions,  and  that  they 
had  but  little  foundation  in  reality."  When  a  vivid  imagination 
supplies  the  material  for  conclusions,  and  that  the  latter  have 
no  foundation  in  reality,  it  is  very  bad,  and  usually  has  to  be 
paid  for  in  the  long  run.  WTe  all  admit  that  Audubon  was  a  great 
painter,  but  in  not  a  few  of  his  ornithological  descriptions  he 
too  frequently  drew  his  inferences  from  insufficient  data. 

As  a  matter  of  fact  this  species  builds  rather  a  bulky  nest,  usu- 
ally on  the  lower  limbs  of  pine-trees,  and  lines  it  well  with  soft 
feathers.  Further  to  the  northward  they  may  even  build  upon 
the  ground,  as  has  been  stated  by  competent  authority.  Ridgway 
has  described  the  young  at  various  stages.  Here  is  where  the 
bulk  of  the  work  remains  to  be  done  in  this  splendid  group  of 
birds  by  ornithologists.  We  need  to  know  a  great  deal  more 
about  the  autumnal  plumages  of  all  these  species  and  subspecies 
of  the  Mniotiltidce.  But  this  applies  even  more  directly  to  the 
young,  that  is  from  the  time  they  assume  the  first  nestling  plum- 
age, through  the  various  stages  until  it  becomes  completely  adult. 
This  can  only  be  done  by  collecting  long  series  of  birds  of  the 
same  species  or  subspecies  for  all  the  variations.  My  son  has 
been  engaged  upon  this  lately,  and  this  spring  succeeded  in  tak- 
ing several  birds  of  this  group  in  plumages  not  possessed  in  the 
immense  collections  of  the  United  States  National  Museum. 
Even  one  or  two  of  these  the  ornithologists  in  that  institution 
have  failed  to  identify,  while  in  some  cases  the  young  or  sub- 
adults  have  been  taken  in  plumages  heretofore  undescribed,  or 
even  unknown.  There  is  a  superb  field  still  open  here  for  work 


324  CHAPTERS    ON    THE    NATURAL    HISTORY 

of  great  value  in  this,  one  of  our  most  interesting  groups  of  birds, 
and  one  exclusively  American,  as  these  Warblers  have  no  near 
representatives  in  the  Old  World.  A  handsome  volume,  giving 
full  descriptions  of  everything  known  of  our  warblers,  with  a 
complete  set  of  colored  plates  giving  life-size  figures  of  the  mem- 
bers of  the  family,  would  at  this  writing  be  a  magnificent  contri- 
bution to  ornithology.  In  such  plates  all  the  various  color  phases 
of  the  young  and  subadult,  for  each  and  every  species  or  subspe- 
cies could  be  shown,  as  well  as  half-tone  figures  in  the  text  (from 
photograph)  showing  their  nests.  All  the  eggs  could  be  exhibited 
upon  three  or  four  plates  in  the  same  masterly  manner  in  which 
Bendire  has  done  for  other  groups. 

Speaking  of  the  nests  of  these  birds,  I  discovered  this  spring 
(1897)  a  most  beautiful  one  of  the  common  Yellow  warbler. 
Strange  to  say  it  was  built  obliquely  (see  Fig.  80)  upon  the  side  of 
one  of  the  upgrowing  shoots  of  a  honey  locust.  The  foliage  was 
very  dense,  and  apparently  a  secondary  growth  from  an  old 
stump;  it  was  upon  the  "flats"  of  south  Washington,  a  semi- 
swampy  area  on  the  north  side  of  the  Potomac,  but  less  than  a 
quarter  of  a  mile  from  the  Washington  Monument.  The  last 
young  one  of  the  brood  was  just  about  to  leave  it,  but  was  cap- 
tured; the  male  parent  only  exhibiting  any  concern.  Now,  al- 
though the  old  birds  of  this  species  are  of  a  bright  yellow  all 
over,  this  young,  fluffy  one  was  white  beneath  and  a  pale  pearl 
gray  upon  all  the  upper  parts.  In  fact,  not  at  all  suggestive  as 
to  the  species  to  which  it  belonged.  The  nest  is  an  extremely 
neat  little  affair,  and  securely  fastened  to  the  limb  or  shoot.  My 
friend,  Mr.  Chas.  R.  Dodge,  of  the  United  States  Department  of 
Agriculture,  has  kindly  examined  the  fibers  of  which  this  nest 
is  chiefly  composed,  and  he  writes  me  that  they  are  doubtless 
those  of  the  common  swamp  milkweed  (Asclepias  incarnata). 

Another  warbler  that  constructs  a  pretty  nest  is  the  Prairie 
warbler  (Dendroica  discolor),  and  several  of  these  were  found  by 
my  son  and  myself  during  our  collecting  trips  in  the  spring  of 
1897,  in  the  neighborhood  of  the  city  of  Washington,  D.  C.  They 
are  fond  of  building  in  the  low,  second-growth  timber,  composed 
of  scrub-oak,  chestnut,  dogwood,  and  similar  trees.  On  the 
eighth  of  last  June  (1896)  a  very  pretty  specimen  of  the  nest  of 
this  species  wras  discovered  in  the  fork  of  a  small  oak,  not  more 
than  three  feet  above  the  ground.  It  contained  four  eggs,  and 
these  hatched  out  in  the  course  of  the  next  few  da  vs.  At  first. 


ttt 


FIG.  80.     NEST  AND  YOUNG   OF  THE  YELLOW  WARBLER    (Den- 

droica  cestirci}. 

Taken  natural  size,  in  sifit,  from  nature  by  the  Author. 


FIG.  81.     NEST  AND  THREE  YOUNG  OF  PRAIRIE  WARBLER. 


OF    THE    UNITED    STATES  329 

the  birds  are  not  much  bigger  than  young  humming-birds,  but 
they  grow  rapidly,  and,  at  about  the  time  they  were  ready  to  quit 
the  nest  I  made  a  photograph  of  both,  taking  it  of  natural  size. 
(See  Fig.  81.)  Upon  examining  the  structure  of  this  nest  I  find 
it  to  be  composed  of  the  following  materials:  inside  it  is  some- 
what thickly  lined  with  the  very  finest  kinds  of  grass,  vegetable 
fibers,  and  the  white  hair  of  some  animal, — the  three  being  beau- 
tifuly  interwoven  in  such  a  way  as  to  give  a  smooth  and  even 
surface.  This  lining  is  completely  blended  with  the  outer  struc- 
ture of  the  nest,  in  which  latter  much  of  the  same  material  is 
used,  but  to  this  part  of  the  structure  the  birds  had  added  bits 
of  white  string,  feathers,  rather  coarser  grasses,  scraps  of  cot- 
ton, and  tiny  pieces  of  wool,  and  similar  materials.  The  weav- 
ing is  extremely  intricate  and  close,  and  the  nest  below  is  built 
around  little  limbs  of  the  fork  that  supports  it.  In  form  it  is 
deeper  than  it  is  broad,  being  somewhat  sub-ellipsoidal  in  general 
contour.  They  do  not  vary  much,  though  one  that  my  son  found 
had  a  good  deal  of  cotton  in  its  composition. 

Some  of  these  warblers  are  ver^  beautiful  birds,  as,  for  exam- 
ple, the  Prothonotary  (P.  citrea),  the  Magnolia  (D.  maculosa), 
the  Cerulean  warbler  (D.  ccerulea),  the  Blackburnian  (D.  Uack- 
fturnice),  and  others;  some  are  rare,  as  Swainson's  or  Kirtland's 
(H.  swainsonii  and  D.  Tcirtlandi) ;  others  again  are  extremely 
plain  in  plumage  and  seclusive  in  habit.  They  are,  however,  all 
deserving  of  our  closest  study,  and  any  one  adding  reliable  data 
to  the  known  chapters  in  the  history  of  any  of  them  will  be  doing 
ornithological  science  a  distinct  service  and  benefit. 

Passing  next  to  the  family  Fringillidw.  we  find  it  to  be  repre- 
sented in  liio  United  States  avifauna  by  a  large  and  varied  col- 
lection or  assemblage  of  birds,  of  which  the  Grosbeaks,  the  Bunt- 
ings, the  Towhees,  the  Finches  of  different  species  and  subspe- 
cies, the  Sparrows,  the  Snowbirds  and  others,  are  all  characteris- 
tic examples.  The  study  of  this  large  and  extensive  group  of 
forms  is  extremely  interesting  and  important,  especially  when 
we  come  to  consider  their  number,  their  habits,  their  wide  geo- 
graphical range,  their  morphology,  and  their  economic  relation 
to  man.  But  it  is  not  my  intention  to  enter  upon  any  of  these 
subjects  in  the  present  connection,  as  even  a  general  considera- 
tion of  them  would  far  exceed  the  limitations  of  our  space.  It  is 
my  desire  simply  to  bring  before  my  readers  certain  comparative 
data  by  means  of  which  I  hope  to  make  clear  to  them  the  growth 


330  CHAPTERS    ON    THE    NATURAL    HISTORY 

of  American  ornithology  along  certain  lines  during  the  past  cen- 
tury. This  is  the  reason  why  I  select  a  large  and  familiar  group 
of  birds  (of  the  suborder  Passeres)  to  illustrate  what  I  have  in 
view,  for  nearly  everyone  in  the  land  knows  the  more  common 
representatives  of  this  tribe;  as,  for  instance,  the  American  Gold 
finch,  the  Chipping  sparrow  (see  Figure),  the  Snowbirds,  the 
Chewinks  (Pipilo),  and  others. 

Not  long  ago  the  American  Ornithologists'  Union  published  a 
second  edition  of  its  Check-List  of  North  American  Birds,  and  in 
it  is  given  the  scientific  and  English  name  of  every  species  and 
subspecies  of  bird  of  this  country.  The  first  edition  of  this  work 
appeared  over  ten  years  ago,  and  the  present  writer  has  com- 
pared the  two  volumes  in  such  a  manner,  in  addition  to  other 
data,  as  to  show  the  number  of  new  birds  made  known  to  science 
and  named  in  the  last  one.  These  results  were  duly  published  in 
The  American  Naturalist,  of  Philadelphia,  of  last  year  (1896).  But 
these  show  only  the  number  of  new  species  and  subspecies  of 
birds  discovered  in  this  country  during  the  past  ten  or  twelve 
years,  whereas  it  can  be  shown  that  the  widening  of  our  knowl- 
edge in  similar  fields  during  the  past  century  has  been  simply 
wonderful. 

Let  us  start  from  the  time  of  Wilson,  for  example,  and  his 
name,  that  of  "  the  American  ornithologist,"  as  he  has  been 
fondly  called,  is  known  to  all  of  us.  Alexander  Wilson  was  born 
in  176G,  and  died  in  1813,  so  the  most  of  his  ornithological  work 
was  performed  about  a  century  ago,  and  it  is  proposed  here  to 
compare,  in  a  general  way,  the  number  of  Fringillidce  (Sparrows, 
etc.)  known  to  Wilson,  with  the  number  named  in  the  A.  O.  U. 
Check-List.  With  such  a  selected  example  as  this  before  us,  it 
will  not  be  difficult  for  those  who  are  more  or  less  interested  in 
American  ornithology  to  gain  some  idea  of  what  the  entire  ex- 
tension of  our  knowledge  has  been  in  these  fields. 

I  have  before  me  what  I  take  to  be  an  alphabetical  list  of  the 
birds  of  this  country  as  they  were  known  to  Wilson,  and  quite 
apart  from  the  synopsis  of  Dr.  Brewer  that  subsequently  ap- 
peared in  some  of  the  later  editions  of  the  former's  work.  The 
first  birds  to  be  dealt  with  in  this  list  are  the  Buntings,  and  these, 
as  have  the  majority  of  birds  since  Wilson's  time,  have  all  had 
their  scientific,  or  classical  names,  changed  for  them.  Of  this, 
little  or  nothing  wrill  be  said  here,  and  only  to  an  extent  in  paren- 
theses as  will  indicate  to  the  modern  student  of  the  science,  the 


FIG.  82.     YOUNG  CPIIPPING  SPARROWS  (Spizella 

Three  days  out  of  the  nest,  waiting  to  be  fed.     Photographed  natural  size,  from  life,  by  the  Author, 
from  specimens  captured  and  presented  to  him  by  Miss  Alfhild  D.  Lowum. 


OF    THE    UNITED    STATES  333 

genus  dealt  with  in  comparison,  the  one  in  the  A.  O.  U.  List  being 
used.  Wilson  knew  of  but  eight  birds  that  he  called  buntings, 
the  first  of  these  being  the  Bay-winged  bunting,  now  called  the 
Vesper  sparrow  (Pooccetes),  and  to  it  two  subspecies  have  been 
added  since  his  time. .  The  Black-throated  bunting  (2),  now 
widely  known  as  the  Dickcissel  (Spiza),  still  remains  4he  sole 
representative  of  its  genus.  The  Cow  bunting,  as  well  as  the 
Bice  bunting  of  this  author,  are  members  of  the  family  Icteridce, 
so  this  reduces  his  list  of  these  birds  to  six.  Next,  of  the  genus 
Passerina,  Wilson  knew  of  the  Painted  bunting  (P.  ciris),  still 
so  called  (3),  and  the  Indigo  bird  (P.  cyama),  our  Indigo  bunt- 
ing. Two  other  beautiful  species  and  a  subspecies  have  been 
here  added  since  his  time.  One  Snow  bunting  (4)  was  known  to 
Wilson,  our  Snowflake  (Plectroplienax),  abd  the  genus  has  been 
increased  by  another  species  and  a  subspecies;  and  while  he 
knew  of  but  the  one  Towhee  (Pipilo)  (5),  we  now  recognize  no 
less  than  four  species  of  this  familiar  bird,  and  eight  subspecies. 
Equally  remarkable  i's  the  record  for  the  White-crowned  bunt- 
ing (6),  our  White-crowned  sparrow  (Zonotrichia),  of  which  he 
knew  but  the  one  species,  while  the  genus  now  contains  four  spe- 
cies and  two  subspecies,  the  only  other  one  of  it  known  to  him 
being  the  White-throated  Sparrow  (Z.  alMcollis). 

Wilson  knew  both  species  of  those  very  interesting  birds 
known  as  crossbills  (Loxia),  to  which  is  now  to  be  added  the 
Mexican  crossbill  (L.  c.  stricMandi),  and  the  American  crossbill 
has  been  reduced  to  a  subspecies  (L.  curmrostra  minor  Gurvi- 
rostra  americana).  These  birds  are  so  remarkable,  meriting  as 
they  do  a  special  description,  that  I  shall  at  the  close  of  the  pres- 
ent chapter,  give  a  special  account  of  them. 

Of  the  genus  Spinus,  Wilson  knew  of  but  one  little  common 
Yellowbird,  or  Goldfinch,  and  the  Pine  siskin,  or,  as  he  called  it, 
the  Pine  finch,  while  we  have  since  discovered  or  added  to  the 
avifauna  no  less  than  three  other  goldfinches  with  their  three 
subspecies.  Our  well-known  Purple  finch  (Carpodacus)  was,  of 
course,  familiar  to  him,  but  the  genus  now  contains,  in  addition, 
two  other  species  and  two  subspecies. 

Wilson  also  described  the  Savanna  finch,  the  Seaside  finch, 
and  the  Sharp-tailed  finch,  all  of  which  he  retained  in  the  genus 
Fringilla.  These  birds  are  now  placed  in  the  genus  Ammodramus, 
and  including  those  just  mentioned,  it  contains  no  less  than  ten 
species  and  eleven  subspecies.  But  even  still  more  interesting 


334  CHAPTERS    ON    THE    NATURAL    HISTORY 

is  the  fact  that  he  placed  all  the  grosbeaks  known  to  him  in  the 
genus  Loxia;  these  were  the  Blue  grosbeak,  the  Cardinal,  the 
Pine,  and  the  Kose-breasted.  At  the  present  time  an  Evening 
grosbeak  is  known  to  us,  with  its  subspecies  (Coceothraustes) ; 
the  Pine  grosbeak  still  remains  unique  (Pinicola) ;  three  sub- 
species of  the  Cardinal  grosbeak  have  been  discovered  (Curdi- 
nalis),  and  an  entire  new  related  genus  (Pyrrhuloxia),  contain- 
ing the  Texas  cardinal  with  its  two  subspecies;  the  Rose-breast- 
ed grosbeak  is  now  associated  in  the  genus  Habia  with  the  beau- 
tiful western  form,  the  Black-headed  grosbeak,  the  existence  of 
which  Wilson  never  even  had  a  suspicion.  The  Blue-headed 
grosbeak  is  also  in  a  separate  genus  (Guiraca)  with  its  western 
subspecies.  He  knew  only  of  one  Redpoll,  our  well-known  little 
type  of  the  north  (Acanthis  linaria),  and  to  this  genus  has  been 
added  another  species  and  four  subspecies. 

When  we  come  to  the  Sparrows,  we  find  that  our  modern  list 
has  been  enormously  increased  since  the  early  part  of  this  cen- 
tury, for  Wilson  mentions  but  eight  Sparrows,  every  one  of 
which  he  retains  in  the  genus  Fringilla,  along,  as  has  been  point- 
ed out  above,  with  some  of  his  finches.  The  genus  Spizella  con- 
tains seven  species  and  three  subspecies,  and  it  is  in  this  that 
we  find  the  Chipping  sparrow,  the  Tree  sparrow,  and  the  Field 
sparrow,  the  only  ones  known  to  Wilson.  He  knew,  also,  the 
Fox  sparrow  (Passerella),  calling  it  the  Fox-colored  sparrow, 
and  we  have  found  since  his  day  three  subspecies  of  this  beauti- 
ful bird. 

It  is  curious  to  note  here  that  Wilson  called  the  male  of  our 
Savanna  sparrow  (Ammodramus  s.  savanna)  a  finch,  while  the 
female  of  the  same  bird  he  called  a  sparrow;  he,  however,  recog- 
nized the  fact  that  it  was  one  and  the  same  species. 

Everyone  knows  the  Song  sparrow  (Melospiza  fasciata),  and  it 
alone  was  known  to  Wilson.  In  these  days,  however,  this  genus 
contains  no  less  than  four  additional  species,  together  with  ten 
subspecies.  Of  these,  Wilson  only  knew,  besides  the  Song  spar- 
row (already  mentioned),  the  Swamp  sparrow  (M.  georgiana 
Fringilla  palustris).  He  was  familiar  with  the  White-throated 
sparrow  of  the  genus  Zouotrichia,  already  referred  to  above;  as 
he  was  with  the  Yellow-winged  sparrow,  now  called  by  many 
the  Grasshopper  sparrow  of  the  genus  Ammodramus,  also  men- 
tioned in  a  former  paragraph. 

Finally,  Wilson  knew  of  but  one  Snowbird,  his  Fringilla  hud- 


OF    THE    UNITED    STATES  335 

sonia,  the  form  now  called,  in  the  A.  O.  U.  Check-List,  the  Slate- 
colored  junco  (Junco  hyemaUs),  to  which  genus  has  since  been 
added  no  less  than  seven  additional  species  and  seven  subspe- 
cies. Many  of  the  modern  genera  of  the  family  Fringillidce  were 
totally  unknown  to  Wilson  as,  for  example,  Leucosticte,  Rhyncho- 
phanes,  Chondestes,  Amphispiza,  Euetheia,  and  Calamospim,  and 
of  course  the  forms  that  represent  them. 

In  slimming  up,  then,  it  will  be  seen  that  Wilson  knew  of  but 
thirty  species  of  birds  that  belong  to  the  family  Fringillidce, 
while  in  our  Check-List  of  1895  the  same  family  is  represented  by 
no  fewer  than  eighty-nine  species  and  seventy-four  subspecies — 
163  birds  in  all.  A  large  part  of  this  augmentation  has  been 
due  to  the  activity  of  modern  ornithologists  collecting  west  of 
the  Mississippi  river,  over  areas  which,  to  Wilson,  were  totally 
unknown. 

In  other  lands  than  the  United  States,  the  fringilline  or  finch- 
group  includes  an  enormous  number  of  specific  and  subspecific 
forms,  famous  among  these  we  find  the  Weaver-birds  of  Africa; 
the  European  Haw-finch  or  Common  Grosbeak  of  Europe;  the 
Common  Sparrow,  which  has  been  so  successfully  introduced 
into  this  country;  the  foreign  Linnets,  the  Common  Goldfinch  of 
Europe,  the  Canary,  the  European  Ortalan,  the  Bullfinch,  the 
Java  Sparrow,  and  a  perfect  host  of  others. 

As  stated  above,  I  shall  now  give  a  brief  account  of  the  species 
of  crossbills  found  in  this  country.  These  birds  average  about 
the  size  of  an  English  sparrow  (Passer  domesticus),  but  they  pre- 
sent a  character  no  less  unique  than  the  crossing  of  their  bills, — 
a  feature  not  at  present  known  to  exist  in  any  other  species  of 
the  entire  class  Aves.  Both  the  upper  and  lower  bills  are  subcres- 
centic  in  form,  the  margins  being  sharp,  and  the  apices  ex- 
tremely acute.  Passing  from  base  to  apex,  the  lower  bill  is  grad- 
ually curved  to  one  side,  the  upper  mandible  having  a  correspond- 
ing curve  to  the  opposite  side,  and  both  present  a  decided  curva- 
ture of  their  own.  This  arrangement  admits  of  the  mandibles 
crossing  each  other  near  their  middle  thirds,  and  in  this  crossing 
the  point  of  the  lower  jaw  turns  out  to  the  right  side.  I  have  met 
with  about  one  specimen  in  fifteen  where  the  crossing  takes  place 
in  the  other  direction.  The  peculiar  conformation  of  the  beak 
of  these  birds  is  not  confined  only  to  their  horny  sheaths,  but 
the  asymmetry  is  still  more  profound,  being  entered  into  by  the 
osseous  mandibles  of  the  skull,  while  certain  muscles  of  the  head. 


336  CHAPTERS    ON    THE    NATURAL    HISTORY 

the  ligaments,  and  other  parts,  exhibit  a  corresponding  and  pro- 
portionate distortion. 

By  this  contrivance  the  bird  has  the  power  of  forcibly  pressing 
apart  the  firm  leaflets  of  the  cones  of  various  pine  trees,  and  by  a 
dexterous  use  of  the  tongue,  whipping  into  its  mouth  the  seeds 
concealed  in  the  deeper  recesses.  These  seeds  form  the  principal 
food  of  the  crossbills,  though  they,  in  a  similar  manner,  obtain 
seeds  from  the  "  cones  "  of  the  tulip-tree  or  poplar.  Apples  are 
also  split  open  in  this  manner,  the  birds  being  very  fond  of  the 
seeds  of  this  fruit.  I  have,  in  Nebraska,  seen  these  birds  feed- 
ing upon  the  seeds  of  the  sunflower,  in  the  winter  time. 

In  my  drawing  illustrating  this  chapter,  I  have  shown  a  pair 
of  American  crossbills  (Loxia  curvirostra  minor),  the  male  bird 
being  in  the  act  of  parting  the  horny  leaflets  of  a  pine  cone. 
While  drawing  this  bird,  I  had  a  specimen  before  me  that  I  shot 
near  Washington,  D.  C.,  a  number  of  years  ago,  and  it  shows 
several  traces  of  albinism,  the  top  of  the  head  being  nearly  en- 
tirely white.  Crossbills  are  finches,  but  they  are  very  curious 
kinds  of  finches,  having  many  habits  not  exhibited  by  other  mem- 
bers of  the  same  family.  Wilson  used  the  word  Curvirostra  for 
the  genus  containing  these  birds,  but  Gesner  applied  the  term 
Loxia  (Greek,  loxos  oblique),  and  this  appellation  was  continued 
by  Linne",  and  is  now  the  term  used  by  the  vast  majority  of  or- 
nithologists the  world  over.  We  have  three  species  of  them  in 
this  country,  viz.:  the  American  crossbill,  mentioned  above;  the 
Mexican  crossbill  (L..  c.  stricklandi) ,  and  the  White-winged 
crossbill  (Loxia  leucoptera). 

As  a  rule  they  are  boreal  birds,  being  confined  to  the  northern 
parts  of  the  eastern  United  States,  except  the  Mexican  cross- 
bill, which  is  said  to  be  found  in  the  mountains  of  Wyoming  and 
Colorado,  west  to  the  Sierra  Nevada,  and  south  through  New 
Mexico  and  beyond  our  boundaries.  In  the  winter-time  the  other 
two  species  also  come  south,  especially  the  American  crossbill, 
which  has  been  taken  occasionally  in  the  southern  states.  The 
type  of  the  genus,  or  the  Common  crossbill,  is  found  in  the  Old 
World  (Loxia  curvirostra),  where  three  other  forms  of  the  genus 
also  occur — "  two  of  them  so  closely  resembling  the  common 
bird  that  their  specific  validity  has  been  often  questioned.  The 
first  of  these,  of  large  stature,  the  Parrot  crossbill,  L.  pityopsit- 
tacus,  comes  occasionally  to  Great  Britain,  presumably  from 
Scandinavia,  where  it  is  known  to  breed.  The  second,  L.  Mmalay- 


OF    THE    UNITED    STATES 


337 


ana,  which  is  a  good  deal  smaller,  is  known  only  from  the  Hima- 
laya Mountains.  The  third,  the  Two-barred  crossbill,  L.  tceniop- 
tera,  is  very  distinct,  and  its  proper  home  seems  to  be  the  most 
northern  forests  of  the  Russian  Empire,  but  it  has  occasionally 
occurred  in  Western  Europe  and  even  in  England."  (A.  New- 
ton.) 

Adult  males  of  the  American  crossbill  are  of  a  more  or  less 
bright  reddish  brick  color,  with  dusky  wrings  and  tail.  Females 
are  of  a  plain  olive,  often  tinged  with  gray  or  yellow,  and  gener- 


FIG.  83.     A  .PAIR  OF  CROSSBILLS. 

ally  dashed  with  darker  markings;  the  latter  are  always  present 
in  the  young  birds,  the  grayish-green  in  them  being  lighter  than 
it  is  in  the  female.  Male  Mexican  crossbills  are  more  brilliant 
than  the  males  of  the  common  one.  A  male  of  the  white-winged 
species  will  measure  from  6  to  6  1-2  inches  in  length,  and  is  a 
more  graceful  bird  than  the  others.  It  has  black  wings  and  tail, 
the  body  being  of  a  rich  purplish  carmine, — dusky  on  the  back. 
Twro  broad  white  bands  are  seen  upon  either  wing,  a  character 
that  at  once  distinguishes  this  species,  and  which  gives  it  its 


338  CHAPTERS    ON    THE    NATURAL    HISTORY 

name.  About  twenty-five  years  ago  I  shot  several  males  and 
females  of  this  white-winged  species  near  Stamford,  Connecti- 
cut, in  August,  and  found  them  common  in  central  New  York 
in  the  winter-time.  Females  of  this  variety  are  also  olive-green- 
ish, light-yellowish  upon  their  under  parts.  Common  crossbills 
are  interesting  cage-pets,  but  their  bright  red  tints  of  plumage 
frequently,  indeed  always,  I  believe,  change  to  a  variety  of  shades 
of  yellowish-red,  greenish-yellow,  or  dull  orange.  These  tints 
are  also  found  sometimes  in  adult  males  in  a  state  of  nature. 
The  cause  for  these  changes  is  not  as  yet  known  to  us,  but  the 
food  they  eat  in  a  state  of  confinement  may  have  something  to  do 
with  it. 

Marked  variation  in  size  of  the  individuals  is  also  to  be  noticed, 
and  their  beaks  likewise  vary  greatly  in  this  particular,  while  in 
the  white-winged  species  the  latter  are  not  so  distinctly  crossed. 
Buffon,  the  great  French  naturalist,  always  contended  that  this 
crossing  was  a  deformity,  and  never  changed  his  opinion,  and 
be  it  added  here,  probably  never  saw  a  flock  of  them  engaged  in 
extracting  the  seeds  from  pine-cones.  Beyond  all  doubt,  this  ar- 
rangement has  been  produced  by  gradual  development  in  time; 
and  in  time,  too,  the  descendants  of  other  species  may  also  pos- 
sess it — for  examples,  both  siskins  and  goldfinches  constantly 
feed  upon  the  seeds  in  pine  cones,  thrusting  their  sharp  beaks, 
in  the  case  of  the  siskins,  far  in  to  reach  the  seeds.  A  little  cross- 
ing of  the  bills  would  insure  their  survivance  with  greater  cer- 
tainty, no  doubt. 

Wilson,  who  left  us  a  very  excellent  account  of  the  American 
crossbill,  says  that  in  the  winter  they  appear  in  large  flocks  in 
Pennsylvania  where  they  feed  "  on  the  seeds  of  the  hemlock  and 
white  pine,  have  a  loud,  sharp,  and  not  unmusical  note;  chatter 
as  they  fly;  alight,  during  the  prevalence  of  deep  snows,  before 
the  door  of  the  hunter,  and  around  the  house,  picking  off  the  clay 
with  which  the  logs  are  plastered,  and  searching  in  corners  where 
urine,  or  any  substance  of  a  saline  quality  had  been  thrown.  At 
such  times  they  are  so  tame  as  only  to  settle  on  the  roof  of  the 
cabin  when  disturbed,  and  a  moment  after  descend  to  feed  as  be- 
fore. They  are  then  easily  caught  in  traps;  and  they  will  fre- 
quently permit  one  to  approach  so  near  as  to  knock  them  down 
with  a  stick." 

When  kept  in  cages  they  have  many  interesting  habits,  some 
of  which,  as  holding  small  cones  in  their  claws  while  feeding, 


OF    THE    UNITED    STATES  339 

and  using  their  bills  when  climbing  along  the  wires,  remind  us 
of  some  of  the  smaller  parrots.  Collectors  for  bird  dealers  often 
capture  crossbills  during  snowstorms,  with  a  hair-noose  at  the 
end  of  a  short  pole.  They  are  thus  taken  on  the  cones  while 
feeding. 

Sometimes  thousands  of  crossbills  will  suddenly  appear  in 
districts  where  conifers  abound,  and  after  attracting  the  atten- 
tion of  everyone  in  the  neighborhood,  will  as  suddenly  disappear, 
perhaps  after  a  stay  of  less  than  twenty-four  hours.  Such  a 
flight  of  the  American  crossbill  I  observed  here  near  Washing- 
ton, D.  C.,  last  season,  during  the  latter  part  of  November  (1896). 
Next  day  all  of  them  appeared  to  have  taken  their  departure. 
Occasionally,  in  New  York,  I  saw  both  species  in  the  same  flock, 
both  being  extremely  noisy,  timid,  and  restless. 

These  birds  breed  in  the  pine  forests  of  the  north,  the  western 
form  further  south  than  the  other  two  species.  The  season 
chosen  is  either  in  winter,  or  very  early  spring.  Kidgway,  in  de- 
scribing the  nidification  of  the  American  crossbill,  says  "  nest 
rather  a  flat  structure,  in  coniferous  trees,  composed  externally 
of  spruce  twigs,  shreds  of  soft  bark,  etc.,  lined  with  horse-hair, 
fine  rootlets,  etc.,  cavity  about  2.50  across  by  1.25  deep,  external 
diameter  about  4.00.  Eggs  usually  four,  .75  by  .57,  pale  greenish, 
spotted  with  various  shades  of  brown,  mixed  with  purplish-gray." 

Crossbills,  in  common  with  so  many  other  animals,  have  given 
rise  to  their  special  myths.  Therefore,  we  find  those  who  aver 
that  this  bird  received  its  crossbill  and  its  blood-tinted  plumage 
"  in  recognition  of  the  pity  it  bestowed  on  the  suffering  Saviour 
at  the  crucifixion."  (!)  It  has  been  hinted  that  even  Buff  on  was 
not  altogether  averse  to  this  explanation  of  these  two  charac- 
teristics of  the  males  of  this  genus,  quite  ignoring  the  fact  that 
the  females  show  no  red  in  their  plumage.  Pathologically,  crows 
(and  other  Corvidce)  often  exhibit  a  crossing  of  the  mandible  as 
do  some  other  species  of  birds. 


CHAPTEK  XXIII. 

THE  YELLOW-BREASTED   CHAT,   CAT-BIRDS,   AND  THE   OVEN-BIRD. 

(Icteria  virens,  Galeoscoptes  carolinensis,  and  Siurus  auricapillus.) 

N  the  pesent  chapter  it  is  my  intention  to  notice  one  of 
the  most  remarkable  of  all  the  passerine  birds  in  the 
avifauna  of  the  United  States.  Its  vernacular  name 
has,  ever  since  the  discovery  of  the  species,  been  the 


Yellow-breasted  chat,  and  so  far  as  at  present  known  to  me,  it 
has,  with  but  few  exceptions,  passed  under  no  other.  But  in  the 
hands  of  the  classifiers  of  birds,  and  those  who  christen  them 
with  their  technical  or  scientific  names,  the  fate  of  this  species 
has  been  very  different. 

Gmelin,  Latham,  and  Pennant,  with  their  followers,  arrayed 
it  with  the  flycatchers;  Desmarest  had  it  among  the  tanagers; 
Sparrman  and  others  placed  it  with  the  cedar  birds,  while  Lin- 
naeus, Buffon,  and  Brisson  believed  it  was  a  thrush.  The 
Prince  of  Musignano  took  Wilson  to  task  for  presuming  to  think 
that  it  could  be  one  of  the  manakins,  and  Vieillot  adopted  its 
present  genus,  Icteria,  for  it.  This  generic  appellation,  together 
with  the  specific  one  of  virens,  is  recognized  by  the  American 
Ornithologists'  Union,  and  in  the  Check  List  of  North  American 
Birds,  the  Yellow-breasted  chat,  with  its  western  subspecific  rep- 
resentative, the  long-tailed  chat,  are  made  to  stand  between  two 
genera  of  warblers,  but  just  why  it  would  be  difficult  to  say. 

The  bird's  exact  position  in  the  system  will  probably  not  be 
known,  however,  until  its  anatomical  structure  has  been  care- 
fully studied,  and  this  compared  with  that  of  many  other  species 
of  suspected  alliance.  Even  this  side  of  the  history  of  the  Yellow- 
breasted  chat  would  incline  us  to  believe  we  had  under  considera- 
tion one  of  the  ornithological  puzzlers,  apart  from  anything  else; 
but  its  affinities  are  no  more  problematical  than  are  the  habits 
of  this  singular  species  unique. 

Probably  few  of  those  who  read  what  I  am  writing  here  have 
ever  seen  a  Yellow-breasted  chat,  and  it  is  said  of  Mr.  Catesby, 
who  was  the  first  to  figure  this  species,  that  he  was  never  able  to 
shoot  one  of  them,  and  finally  employed  an  Indian  for  the  pur- 
pose, and  even  the  latter  did  not  succeed  until  all  his  skill  had 
been  put  to  the  test.  Doubtless  this  story  is  a  little  overdrawn, 


OF  THE  UNITED  STATES  341 

or  else  Catesby  did  not  collect  as  well  as  he  wrote;  and  no  one 
has  ever  questioned  the  influence  of  Mark  Catesby's  writings. 
To  those  accustomed,  however,  to  the  collection  of  all  kinds  of 
birds,  difficulty  is  experienced  in  the  case  of  the  present  species 
only  from  the  habit  it  has  of  keeping  concealed,  and  that  its 
notes  are  frequently  ventriloquistic  in  character.  Securing  spec- 
imens of  them  in  plenty  has  never  given  me  much  trouble,  either 
during  the  vernal  or  autumnal  migrations.  Few,  though,  have 
fallen  to  my  gun,  as  to  destroy  the  life  of  one  of  those  splendid 
fellows  gives  me  quite  as  severe  a  pang  and  feeling  of  remorse  as 
it  does  to  shoot  a  mockingbird. 

Wilson,  in  describing  this  species,  has  said  that  the  Yellow- 
breasted  chat  "is  seven  inches  long,  and  nine  inches  in  extent; 
the  whole  upper  parts  are  of  a  rich  and  deep  olive  green,  except 
the  tips  of  the  wings  and  interior  vanes  of  the  wing  and  tail 
feathers,  which  are  dusky  brown;  the  whole  throat  and  breast 
are  of  a  most  brilliant  yellow,  which  also  lines  the  inside  of  the 
wings  and  spreads  on  the  sides  immediately  below ;  the  belly  and 
vent  are  white;  the  front  [forehead]  slate  colored,  or  dull  cin- 
ereous; lores  black;  from  the  nostril  a  line  of  white  extends  to 
the  upper  part  of  the  eye,  which  it  nearly  encircles;  another 
spot  of  white  is  placed  at  the  base  of  the  lower  mandible;  the  bill 
is  strong,  slightly  curved,  sharply  ridged  on  top,  compressed, 
overhanging  a  little  at  the  tip,  not  notched,  pointed,  and  alto- 
gether black;  .  .  .  legs  and  feet  light  blue,  hind  claw  rather 
the  strongest,  the  two  exterior  toes  united  to  the  second  joint." 

Very  little  difference  distinguishes  the  sexes,  and  the  above 
description  is  accurate  for  a  number  of  specimens  of  this  species 
I  have  in  my  private  collections.  When  you  catch  a  glimpse  of 
one  of  the  birds  in  the  thicket,  you  are  at  once  struck  by  the  mar- 
velous brilliancy  of  the  yellow  of  its  breast;  and  if  the  specimen 
be  secured,  this  is  even  enhanced  by  a  closer  examination.  It  is 
surely  a  rich,  pure,  and  gorgeous  shade  of  that  color,  verging  as 
it  does  upon  a  clear  orange  in  tone. 

In  the  neighborhood  of  Washington  the  male  chats  begin  to 
arrive  from  the  south  about  the  last  part  of  April,  the  females 
following  in  a  few  days.  They  depart  very  early,  and  it  is  a  rare 
thing  to  see  one  after  the  first  week  in  September.  I  remember 
that  in  southern  New  England  they  used  to  come  early  in  May, 
and  leave  again  in  August,  thus  making  their  stay  only  a  few 
months. 


342  CHAPTERS    ON    THE    NATURAL    HISTORY 

If  upon  any  fine  spring  morning  in  the  country,  where  the  Yel- 
low-breasted chat  is  found,  one  chances  to  pass  in  his  rambles 
into  some  thicket  of  hazel  bushes,  or  into  the  dense  undergrowth 
of  brambles,  suiilax,  and  wild  grape  vines,  his  ears  may  be  sud- 
denly saluted  with  the  grotesque  notes  of  this  bird,  as  he  scolds 
you  from  the  heart  of  his  haunts  for  the  intrusion.  You  listen, 
and  peer  into  the  thicket  with  the  hope  of  catching  sight  of  the 
singular  performer,  but,  for  a  while  at  least,  all  your  efforts  in 
this  direction  are  in  vain.  Although  apparently  very  near  at 
hand  comes  the  anxious  and  angry  repetitions  of  a  series  of  pecu- 
liar whistling  notes,  the  flame-breasted  scamp  is  not  to  be  seen. 

These  notes  pass  to  a  hoarse  and  guttural  squawking  as  they 
appear  to  gradually  vanish  in  the  distance,  and  become  slower 
and  slower  in  their  utterance.  Suddenly,  however,  and  perhaps 
directly  over  your  head,  in  the  most  remarkable  manner,  they 
break  out  again  in  a  loud  and  perfect  jumble  of  alternate,  rapid 
and  slow,  cat-mewings  and  puppy-barkings,  intermixed  with  a 
selection  of  other  notes  quite  defying  the  powers  of  description. 
Now  they  are  upon  this  hand,  and  now  upon  that,  high  pitched 
and  low  pitched,  until  you  verily  believe  the  thicket  is  truly  be- 
witched and  full  of  unseen  sprites.  In  your  despair  at  being 
unable  of  even  catching  a  glimpse  of  the  author  of  this  extraordi- 
nary tirade,  you  take  on  to  imitate  him.  This  has  a  telling  effect 
almost  immediately,  and  in  many  cases,  so  to  speak,  draws  him 
out,  for,  for  the  time  putting  aside  his  wonderful  powers  of  ven- 
triloquism, and  his  scoldings  taking  on  a  greater  degree  of  ve- 
hemence, he  at  last  launches  into  the  air  above  his  retreat,  and 
with  cawing  notes  uttered  in  varied  key,  he  with  jerky  flight 
appears  in  full  view.  After  ascending  some  thirty  feet  or  more, 
he  essays  to  again  descend  to  the  brush.  This  he  does  with  slow 
flapping  wings  and  dangling  legs,  in  manner  indulged  in  by  no 
other  bird  known  to  me.  If  you  persist  in  your  imitations  he  may 
follow  you  along  from  copse  to  copse  for  a  quarter  of  a  mile  or 
more,  joined,  sooner  or  later,  perhaps,  by  others  of  the  same  spe- 
cies. Wilson  has  very  truly  remarked :  "  If  the  weather  be  mild 
and  serene,  with  clear  moonlight,  he  continues  gabbling  in  the 
same  strange  dialect,  with  very  little  intermission,  during  the 
whole  night,  as  if  disputing  with  his  own  echoes,  but  probably 
with  a  design  of  inviting  passing  females  to  his  retreat;  for,  when 
the  season  is  further  advanced,  they  are  seldom  heard  during  the 
night." 


FIG.  84.     NEST  AND  YOUNG  OF  YELLOW-BREASTED  CHAT. 

From  a  photograph  from  life  by  the  Author,  and  reduced  about  one-third. 


OF    THE    UNITED    STATES  345 

Some  time  in  May  these  birds  build  in  the  thick  undergrowth, 
near  the  ground,  a  light  and  tasteful  nest.  They  usually  lay  four 
eggs  of  a  creamy  white  color,  speckled  all  over  with  fine  light 
brown  spots.  Considerable  variation  is  seen,  both  in  form  and 
color  of  these  eggs,  and  I  have  found  specimens  that  were  nearly 
round  in  contour,  and  the  markings  very  sparse. 

Early  last  June,  near  Washington,  in  a  low  dogwood  bush 
that  grew  in  the  thickest  kind  of  a  bramble,  I  discovered  one  of 
these  nests  containing  five  young.  The  former  was  a  very  pretty 
structure,  and  rested  most  lightly  upon  the  slender  twigs  of  the 
chosen  bush.  In  a  few  days  I  succeeded  in  making  an  excellent 
photograph  of  it,  at  a  time  it  contained  two  young,  ready  to  leave 
the  place  of  their  birth.  This  has  been  reproduced  to  illustrate 
the  present  account,  and  it  gives  an  excellent  idea  of  the  nest 
of  this  species. 

The  young  are  a  dull  olive  green  all  over,  being  lighter  and 
ashy  beneath,  and  the  nest  I  found  to  be  outwardly  composed  of 
a  layer  of  very  dry  dead  leaves,  followed  by  a  layer  of  dry  grasses 
and  very  slender  slivers  of  grapevine  bark,  to  be  finally  lined 
with  tender,  hair-like  straws  of  various  kinds.  In  form  it  is  semi- 
globular,  and  quite  deep.  Contrary  to  the  report  usually  made 
by  ornithologists,  the  old  birds  made  no  particular  disturbance 
while  the  examination  was  being  made  of  either  the  nest  or  their 
young,  but  simply  flipped  about  from  bush  to  bush,  uttering  now 
and  then  a  low,  angry,  chuckling  note. 

Often  I  have  found  these  nests  in  the  smilax  vines,  or  black- 
berry, or  even  in  a  low  cedar  tree,  but  never  above  ten  feet  from 
the  ground.  This  is  quite  in  keeping  with  the  habits  of  the  bird, 
for  he  is  essentially  a  thicket  lover,  and  it  is  only  through  some 
chance  that  he  is  ever  seen  in  the  forest  or  out  afield,  neither  of 
which  haunts  are  normally  frequented  by  him. 

Passing  to  another  family  of  the  passerine  birds,  namely,  the 
family  Troglodytidw,  we  find  a  group,  in  so  far  as  this  country 
is  concerned,  containing  the  Wrens,  the  Thrashers,  the  Mocking- 
birds, and  the  Catbird,  and  of  all  of  these  forms  none  are  more 
deserving  of  our  study  and  regard  than  the  often-neglected  and 
abused  Catbirds.  Now  Alexander  Wilson  was  a  very  close  ob- 
server of  birds,  and  at  the  time  when  he  wrote,  our  feathered  fa- 
vorites in  this  country  had  no  equal  as  a  describer  of  their  habits 
and  their  characters.  In  my  opinion,  the  description  of  the  Cat- 
bird given  us  by  this  most  charming  of  ornithological  writers  is 


346  CHAPTERS    ON    THE    NATURAL    HISTORY 

an  unrivaled  chapter  upon  the  life  history  of  this  species,  and 
stands  to-day  as  the  most  complete  account,  apart  from  its  anat- 
omy, upon  record.  He  seems  to  have  overlooked  nothing  in  all 
that  goes  to  make  up  the  history  of  this,  to  me,  one  of  the  loveli- 
est representatives  of  the  entire  group  of  birds  in  America. 

During  the  months  of  May,  June,  and  July  of  the  summer  just 
past,  there  were  an  unusual  number  of  catbirds  bred  in  the  vicin- 
ity of  the  City  of  Washington,  D.  C.  Without  special  search  for 
them,  as  many  as  fifty  nests  of  this  species  must  have  been  seen 
by  me  during  the  period  mentioned.  As  usual,  the  birds  built  in 
the  brier  and  bramble  thickets,  in  the  dense  vine  of  the  honey- 
suckle, in  the  hedge-rows  of  the  osage  orange,  or  in  the  saplings 
of  the  scrub  oaks  or  other  trees  found  in  this  section  of  the  coun- 
try. 

Last  summer  a  pair  of  catbirds  built  a  fine  nest  in  the  honey- 
suckle that  grows  over  my  porch,  close  to  the  dining-room  win- 
dow, and  .reared  five  young  ones ;  but  I  regret  to  say  they  did  not 
repeat  the  performance  this  year,  although  the  same  pair  appar- 
ently returned  and  inspected  the  site  of  their  former  home,  and 
then  for  some  reason  or  other  changed  base,  and  built  in  a  thick 
honeysuckle  vine  at  the  foot  of  the  garden.  Here  they  met  with 
dire  misfortune,  however,  for  when  their  eggs  were  about  half 
incubated,  a  huge  black  snake  came  along  one  day  and  devoured 
them.  The  pair,  assisted  by  a  friend  or  two  of  the  same  species, 
made  it  lively  for  his  snakeship  for  a  few  moments,  in  an  open 
space  in  the  garden,  but  it  could  be  nothing  more  than  by  way 
of  retaliation,  for  the  damage  had  been  done  then,  and  the  reptile 
made  good  his  escape  through  the  grass  and  leaves  beneath  the 
thick  brush  beyond  the  fence. 

When  June  came  about  I  selected  for  study  a  particularly 
pretty  nest  of  a  pair  of  these  birds,  with  the  intention  of  making 
photographs  of  it  and  of  the  young  it  contained.  They  had  laid 
four  eggs  when  the  nest  was  first  discovered,  and  they  were,  as 
usual,  of  a  uniform  greenish-blue  color,  and  unspotted.  Later, 
one  of  these  eggs  disappeared,  and  but  three  of  the  birds  were 
hatched  out. 

Nearly  every  day  I  visited  the  small  oak  sapling  in  the  piece 
of  woods  where  the  pair  had  built,  and  one  morning  toward  the 
latter  part  of  the  month  it  became  evident  that  my  brood  in  gray 
meant  very  soon  to  quit  the  premises.  The  moment  had  arrived 
for  the  capture,  but  this,  owing  to  the  denseness  of  the  shrubbery. 


*  * •*•*•••!  r/« 


OF    THE    UNITED    STATES  349 

was  only  two-thirds  successful  in  so  far  as  the  fledglings  were 
concerned,  for  one  of  their  number  made  good  its  escape  in  the 
high  grass  near  by.  Both  the  others,  however,  were  promptly 
secured  in  safety,  and  together  with  the  fork  containing  the  nest, 
were  shortly  afterward  carried  to  my  home.  Here  in  due  course, 
sun,  wind,  and  time  permitting,  I  made  two  or  three  wonderfully 
successful  photographic  pictures  of  my  little  prisoners  and  the 
nest  in  which  they  had  been  bred  and  reared. 

Two  of  the  best  of  these  results  are  reproduced  in  the  present 
connection,  and  are  confidently  offered  to  the  reader  as  fine  fac- 
similes of  the  originals.  Beneath  these  pictures  their  legends 
give  nearly  all  the  information  that  is  required  in  regard  to  them. 
In  fact  they  speak  for  themselves.  When  we  come  to  take  into 
consideration  the  fact  that  a  brood  of  birds  had  been  reared  in 
it,  the  nest  was  a  wonderfully  clean  and  compact  affair,  and  this 
is  usually  the  case  in  this  species.  Internally  this  nest  was  lined 
with  fine  black  rootlets  of  some  plant,  and  of  a  kind,  apparently, 
that  is  invariably  chosen  for  this  purpose  by  the  Catbird.  The 
middle  layer  of  this  nest  is  more  or  less  firm  and  compact,  being 
composed  of  a  fine  grass,  good  big  bits  of  newspaper  and  brown 
paper,  of  a  few  pine  needles,  leaves,  and  strippings  of  the  fibrous 
bark  of  the  grapevine.  Externally,  numerous  twigs  of  various 
lengths,  and  from  various  plants  and  trees,  loosely  woven  to- 
gether, complete  the  structure. 

Having  secured  a  photograph  to  my  liking,  the  inmates  were 
next  induced  to  stand  together  upon  a  rather  slenderish  pine 
twig,  when,  by  an  absolutely  instantaneous  snap,  I  secured  a  life- 
size  picture  of  the  pair  at  my  first  trial.  (See  Fig.  86.) 

With  care,  young  Catbirds  are  easily  reared  from  the  nestling 
stage,  and  soon  become  accustomed  to  a  commodious  cage.  They 
are  good  bathers,  drink  plenty  of  water,  and  thrive  well  upon 
prepared  food,  berries  in  season,  and  meal  worms.  One  of  the 
best  cage  pets  I  ever  saw  among  birds  was  an  individual  of  this 
species,  raised  from  the  nest,  and  most  assuredly  he  was  a  very 
charming  songster.  How  well  Wilson  describes  what  has  been 
the  experience  of  many  an  ornithologist  when  he  writes : 

"  In  passing  through  the  woods  in  summer,  I  have  sometimes 
amused  myself  with  imitating  the  violent  chirping  or  squeaking 
of  young  birds,  in  order  to  observe  what  different  species  were 
around  me;  for  such  sounds  at  such  a  season,  in  the  woods,  are 
no  less  alarming  to  the  feathered  tenants  of  the  bushes  than  the 


350  CHAPTERS    ON    THE    NATURAL    HISTORY 

cry  of  fire  or  murder  in  the  streets  is  to  the  inhabitants  of  a  large 
and  populous  city. 

"  On  such  occasions  of  alarm  and  consternation,  the  Catbird  is 
the  first  to  make  his  appearance;  not  singly,  but  sometimes  a  half 
dozen  at  a  time,  flying  from  different  quarters  to  the  spot.  At 
this  time,  those  who  are  disposed  to  play  with  his  feelings  may 
almost  throw  him  into  fits,  his  emotion  and  agitation  are  so  great 
at  the  distressful  cries  of  what  he  supposes  to  be  his  suffering 
young.  Other  birds  are  variously  affected,  but  none  show  symp- 
toms of  such  extreme  suffering.  He  hurries  backward  and  for- 
ward, with  hanging  wings  and  open  mouth,  calling  out  louder 
and  faster,  and  actually  screaming  with  distress,  till  he  appears 
hoarse  with  his  exertions.  He  attempts  no  offensive  means,  but 
he  bewails — he  implores — in  the  most  pathetic  terms  with  which 
nature  has  supplied  him,  and  with  an  agony  of  feeling  which  is 
truly  affecting.  Every  feathered  neighbor  within  hearing  has- 
tens to  the  place,  to  learn  the  cause  of  the  alarm,  peeping  about 
with  looks  of  consternation  and  sympathy.  But  their  own  power- 
ful parental  duties  and  domestic  concerns  soon  oblige  each  to 
withdraw.  At  any  other  season  the  most  perfect  imitations  have 
no  effect  whatever  on  him.-' 

In  this  last  statement  the  present  writer  can  hardly  agree  with 
the  learned  Wilson,  for  at  this  time,  the  very  last  days  of  Sep- 
tember, when  only  a  few  of  the  summer  stragglers  are  left  in  the 
north,  including  a  handful  of  Catbirds,  I  have  seen  individuals 
of  the  latter  exhibit  not  a  little  curiosity,  at  least,  when  I  have 
vigorously  imitated  the  squeaks  given  vent  to  by  a  young  bird 
that  has  just  been  seized  upon.  They  will  come  some  little  dis- 
tance to  ascertain  the  cause  of  the  disturbance,  and,  upon  arriv- 
ing in  the  neighborhood,  will,  in  a  listless  manner  withal,  ac- 
companied by  barely  audible  and  querulous  notes,  and  by  slow, 
lateral  movements  of  the  tail,  give  evidence  at  least  of  interest 
in  the  supposed  trouble.  But,  as  Wilson  wrell  remarks,  identi- 
cally the  same  notes  produced  in  the  breeding  season  will  drive 
every  Catbird  within  hearing  nearly  out  of  its  senses. 

At  other  times  this  bird  possesses  a  song,  and  a  series  of  pecu- 
liar notes  and  semi-imitations  quite  as  full  of  pathos  and  interest 
as  are  those  of  some  of  the  very  best  of  our  avian  performers. 
He  has  the  greatest  confidence  in  man,  and  if  studied  in  the  way 
he  ought  to  be,  exhibits  an  hundred  and  one  most  interesting 
traits,  and  a  character  peculiar  to  itself,  that  under  all  circum- 


FIG.  86.     A  PAIR  OF  YOUNG  CATBIRDS. 

Life  size  anrt  the  same  ones  seen  in  Fip.  85. 
From  a  photograph  of  the  living  specimens  by  the  Author. 


OF    THE    UNITED    STATES  353 

stances  can  but  charm  the  true  lover  of  nature  and  captivate 
anyone  in  sympathy  with  rural  life  and  associations. 

Fortunately,  this  is  the  case  with  many,  while  on  the  other 
hand,  farmers  and  farmers'  sons  have,  for  over  a  century  past  in 
this  country,  treated  this  lovely  species  with  the  utmost  con- 
tempt, prejudice,  and  persecution.  Thousands  of  the  birds  have 
sacrificed  their  gentle  lives  and  fallen  to  the  guns  of  these  har- 
dened, ignorant,  and  thoughtless  people.  Why?  Simply  because 
the  Catbirds  help  themselves  to  a  little  fruit  in  season,  and  the 
boys  are  directed  to  watch  the  trees  and  strawberry  beds,  and 
shoot  all  Catbirds  on  sight. 

This  is  a  particularly  disagreeable  duty,  and  calculated  to 
foster  the  aforesaid  prejudice,  and  pass  it  down  from  one  genera- 
tion to  another.  Add  to  this  the  farmer's  illiberality  and  the 
sense  of  injury  at  the  loss  of  half  a  peck  of  fruit,  and  the  story  is 
complete.  Such  feelings  are  never  entertained  by  the  generous 
and  broad-minded  among  us;  for  notwithstanding  the  cat-like 
mewing  of  this  bird,  the  plainness  of  its  plumage,  its  marked  fa- 
miliarity— and  familiarity,  they  say,  breeds  contempt — people 
thus  endowed  possess  only  interest  and  admiration  for  the  quaint 
and  modest  little  Quaker  among  the  host  of  the  feathered  tribes. 

Not  far  removed  from  the  family  Troglodyticlce  is  the  family 
Mniotiltid(B,  containing  our  great  host  of  American  warblers,  and 
in  this  group  has  been  placed  the  genus  Siurus,  containing  the 
Oven-bird  and  water  thrushes.  Strictly  speaking,  we  have  but 
one  bird  in  the  avifauna  of  the  United  States  to  which  the  name 
Oven-bird  has  been  applied,  and  it  likewise  has  been  called  the 
Golden-crowned  thrush  by  some  writers,  notwithstanding  the 
fact  that  it  has  neither  a  golden  crown  nor  is  it  a  thrush.  It 
gained  the  name  of  Oven-bird  from  the  form  of  nest  it  builds,  al- 
though our  Dipper  of  the  West  (Cinchis)  likewise  constructs  an 
oven  nest,  with  a  side  entrance,  as  well  as  Siurus,  and  the  two 
species  are  in  a  way  related. 

Those  who  have  paid  any  attention  to  the  birds  of  eastern 
North  America  are  perfectly  familiar  with  our  Oven-bird,  and  it 
has,  too,  been  taken  by  collectors  in  Alaska.  It  comes  to  us  just 
so  soon  as  spring  has  thoroughly  opened,  and  it  is  usually  heard 
a  few  times  before  one  catches  sight  of  it.  As  Wilson  has  said, 
"  It  has  no  song,  but  a  shrill,  energetic  twitter,  formed  by  the 
rapid  reiteration  of  two  notes,  peche,  peche,  peche,  for  a  quarter 
of  a  minute  at  a  time." 


354  CHAPTERS    ON    THE    NATURAL    HISTORY 

A  little  later  in  the  season  the  number  of  individuals  increases, 
and  there  is  no  trouble  in  finding  them  almost  anywhere  in  the 
heavily  shaded  parts  of  the  forest,  for  it  is  to  such  localities  that 
the  bird  confines  itself.  Most  of  its  time  it  spends  upon  the 
ground,  sedately  walking — not  hopping — about  among  the  dry 
fallen  leaves  of  the  previous  year,  where  it  searches  for  the  in- 
sects that  constitute  its  principal  food.  Ever  and  anon  it  will  fly 
up  into  a  tree,  or  into  the  underbrush,  and  give  vent  to  its  monot- 
onous notes,  which  may  be  heard  at  a  considerable  distance 
away.  This  may  be  during  the  very  middle  of  the  day,  when,  as 
a  rule,  the  notes  of  all  other  songsters  are  hushed,  so  it  can  be 
the  more  appreciated,  relieving  as  it  does  the  otherwise  silent 
forest.  Often,  when  upon  the  horizontal  branch  of  a  tree,  it  will 
walk  along  it,  with  lateral  movements  of  its  tail,  in  precisely  the 
same  manner  as  it  assumes  when  upon  the  ground. 

The  Oven-bird  has  an  average  length  of  about  six  inches,  with 
a  coloration  of  plumage  that  reminds  one  of  some  of  the  smaller 
thrushes.  The  top  of  its  head  (adult  male),  has  a  broad  longi- 
tudinal stripe  of  orange-rufous,  bounded  upon  either  side  by  a 
narrower  one  of  blackish.  These  latter  start  from  the  nostrils, 
and  are  carried  backward  to  the  neck.  Either  eye  is  surrounded 
by  a  pale  whitish  ring,  bounded  in  front  by  a  semicircular  one 
of  dusky.  A  small  black  stripe  likewise  bounds  the  white  throat 
upon  either  side.  Above,  the  bird  is  greenish  olive,  while  below 
it  is  pure  white,  with  the  breast  and  sides  streaked  with  blackish 
feathers.  Its  feet  and  lower  bill  are  of  a  pale  horn-color,  while 
the  superior  mandible  is  darker. 

In  my  son's  collection  I  find  a  number  of  specimens  of  this 
species  collected  by  him  and  myself  near  Washington,  D.  0.,  and 
it  is  from  an  adult  male  of  these  that  I  have  made  the  aboA'e 
brief  description.  We  have  also  taken  the  young — most  rest- 
less and  nervous  little  fellows — that  I  failed  to  obtain  any  pho- 
tographic pictures  of,  although  several  attempts  were  made. 
Owing  to  the  careful  manner  in  which  it  is  concealed,  it  is  by  no 
means  a  common  occurrence  to  find  a  nest  of  the  Oven-bird,  and  I 
believe  I  have  never  found  more  than  four  of  them  altogether 
in  my  life.  Near  my  home  in  Takoma,  however,  this  spring 
(1897),  iny  son  and  I  met  with  a  very  beautiful  example  of  the 
nest  of  Siurus,  it  being  situated  as  usual  upon  the  ground,  and 
on  a  side  hill  of  gentle  slope.  It  was  in  the  timber-land,  com- 
posed of  scattered  poplars,  oaks,  and  chestnuts,  with  a  sparse 
undergrowth  of  a  variety  of  shrubs  and  young  trees. 


OF  THE  UNITED  STATES  357 

I  never  knew  of  but  one  case  where  this  bird  built  upon  level 
ground,  and  where  there  was  not  an  abundance  of  dead  leaves 
about.  My  observations,  however,  have  been  confined  to  New 
England,  and  south  to  southern  Maryland.  Then,  too,  the  side 
entrance  to  this  nest  faced  nearly  north,  while,  I  am  given  to  un- 
derstand, they  usually  build  so  as  to  have  this  opening_face  the 
south. 

The  presence  of  the  nest  was  first  suspected  by  my  son,  by  his 
seeing  the  female  spring  up  suddenly  only  a  foot  or  so  in  front 
of  him,  and  run  like  a  mouse  over  the  ground  and  then  disappear 
in  the  underbrush.  After  a  search  of  several  minutes  I  found  the 
nest,  and  it  certainly  was  one  of  the  most  skillfully  concealed 
structures  of  the  kind  one  could  imagine.  Built  flush  with  the 
level  of  the  ground,  the  nest  itself  was  composed  of  dry  leaves, 
fine  dry  grass,  a  few  pine  needles,  and  sparsely  lined  with  horse- 
hair. Dry  leaves  and  fine  dry  grass  were  also  used  to  construct 
a  dome  that  completely  arched  over  the  nest  proper,  the  former 
having  been  built  around  the  stem  of  a  small  maple  about  a  foot 
high,  that  had  every  appearance  of  having  sprouted  out  of  the 
top  of  the  arch.  But  what  made  the  deception  still  more  perfect 
was  the  fact  that  the  entire  affair  was  built  beneath  some  large 
chestnut  leaves  and  pine  needles,  that  still  remained  attached  to 
some  small  dead  limbs  on  the  ground.  In  short,  the  whole  nest 
with  its  dome  was  in  complete  harmony  with  the  little  low 
plants,  moss,  dead  leaves,  and  twigs  that  surrounded  it  all  about. 
It  contained  five  eggs,  almost  incubated.  These  were  nearly  uni- 
form both  in  size  and  color;  one  of  them  I  find  measuring  about 
.80  by  .60,  being  white  and  meagerly  speckled  over  with  pale  red- 
dish brown,  but  chiefly  in  a  broad,  well-defined  band  near  the 
larger  end.  A  few  large  lilac  spots  are  also  to  be  seen,  but  chiefly 
in  the  aforesaid  bands. 

One  afternoon  about  3  o'clock,  several  days  afterward,  I  took 
my  camera  over  to  the  spot,  and  succeeded  in  getting  a  photo- 
graph of  this  nest  in  situ,  and  the  picture  is  reproduced  in  Fig.  88. 

Wilson,  in  speaking  of  this  bird,  says :  "  When  alarmed,  it 
escapes  from  the  nest  with  great  silence  and  rapidly  running 
along  the  ground  like  a  mouse,  as  if  afraid  to  tread  too  heavily 
on  the  leaves ;  if  you  stop  to  examine  its  nest  it  also  stops,  droops 
its  wings,  flutters  and  tumbles  along,  as  if  hardly  able  to  crawl, 
looking  back  now  and  then  to  see  whether  you  are  taking  notice 
of  it.  If  you  slowly  follow,  it  leads  you  fifty  or  sixty  yards  off, 


358  CHAPTERS    ON    THE    NATURAL    HISTORY 

iii  a  direct  line  from  its  nest,  seeming  at  every  advance  to  be  gain- 
ing fresh  strength;  and  when  it  thinks  it  has  decoyed  you  to  a 
sufficient  distance,  it  suddenly  wheels  off  and  disappears.-' 

The  bird  practiced  no  such  deception  in  our  case.  Wilson  also 
states  that  the  Cow  bird  frequently  selects  the  nest  of  Siurus  in 
which  to  deposit  its  egg,  "  and  leaves  the  result  to  the  mercy  and 
management  of  the  Thrush,  who  generally  performs  the  part  of  a 
faithful  and  affectionate  nurse  to  the  foundling." 

Swainson,  the  well-known  naturalist,  is  responsible  for  the 
name  of  this  genus  (Phil.  Mag.  I,  May,  1827),  and  he  wrote  it 
Seirus,  from  two  Greek  words,  signifying  to  wave  or  wag  the  tail ; 
but  as  Newton  has  pointed  out,  the  more  correct  spelling  is 
Siurus,  and  this  has  been  adopted  here. 

In  this  country  the  genus  likewise  contains  the  Water-Thrush 
(8.  noveboracensis),  Grinnell's  water-thrush  (8.  n.  notabilis), 
and  the  Louisiana  water-Thrush  (8.  motacilla).  In  the  classifi- 
cation adopted  in  the  A.  O.  U.  Check-List  this  genus  is  placed  be- 
tween two  genera  of  warblers,  where  it  by  no  means  belongs. 
As  I  have  said,  it  comes  much  nearer  the  American  dipper  ( C In- 
dus), the  pipits  (Anthus),  and  the  true  wagtails  (Motacilla). 
This  was  pointed  out  by  me  many  years  ago,  when  I  examined 
the  skeletal  structure  of  Siurus  (Bull.  Nutt.  Ornitlio.  Club*  VII, 
No.  4,  October,  1882). 

In  England  there  are  a  number  of  birds  locally  called  oven- 
birds,  but  the  name  is  applied  more  particularly  to  the  Willow- 
wren,  which,  as  in  the  case  of  the  others,  all  build  dome  nests. 

But  none  of  these  birds,  nor,  for  the  matter  of  that,  our  own 
Siurus  auricapillus,  are  to  be  considered  the  true  Oven-bird,  as 
strictly  considered  by  ornithologists;  for  properly  speaking*  it 
should  be  applied  only  to  those  South  American  species  which 
the  genus  Furnarius  was  created  to  contain.  F.  rufus  is  perhaps 
the  best  known  form  of  all  these,  and  among  the  Spanish- 
speaking  people  of  that  country  it  is  known  as  the  Hornero 
(Baker),  and  also  as  the  Casara.  This  bird  I  have  never  had  the 
opportunity  of  studying  in  its  native  haunts,  but  long  ago,  Dar- 
win, in  his  famous  Voyage  of  a  Naturalist,  wrote  of  it,  and  said: 

"  The  genus  Furnarius  contains  several  species,  all  small  birds, 
living  on  the  ground  and  inhabiting  open,  dry  countries.  In 
structure  they  cannot  be  compared  to  any  European  form.  Or- 
nithologists have  generally  included  them  among  the  creepers, 
although  opposed  to  that  family  in  every  habit.  The  best  known 


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OF    THE    UNITED    STATES  361 

species  is  the  common  Oven-bird  of  La  Plata,  the  Casara,  or 
housemaker,  of  the  Spaniards.  The  nest,  whence  it  takes  its 
name,  is  placed  in  the  most  exposed  situations ;  as  on  the  top  of  a 
post,  a  bare  rock,  or  on  a  cactus.  It  is  composed  of  mud  and  bits 
of  straw,  and  has  strong^  thick  walls;  in  shape  it  precisely  resem- 
bles an  oven,  or  depressed  beehive.  The  opening  is^large  and 


FIG.  89.     (Upper  figure)  NEST  OF  OVEN-BIKD  (Furnarivs). 

FIG.  90.     (Lower  figure)  VERTICAL  SECTION  OF  THE  SAME  NEST 
OF  OVEN-BIRD  SHOWN  IN  FIG.  89. 

Both  drawings  by  the  Author,  after  Newton. 

arched,  and  directly  in  front ;  within  the  nest  there  is  a  partition, 
which  reaches  nearly  to  the  roof,  thus  forming  a  passage  or  ante- 
chamber to  the  true  nest."  (Vol.  I,  pp.  121,  122). 

In  Part  III  of  Newton's  Dictionary  of  Birds  at  pages  669  and 
670, 1  find  two  excellent  drawings  of  the  nest  of  Furnarius  rufus, 


362  CHAPTERS    ON    THE    NATURAL    HISTORY 

and  of  these  I  have  personally  made  careful  copies,  exhibiting 
them  in  the  present  connection  in  Figs.  89  and  90 : 

"Another  and  smaller  species  of  Farnarius  (F.  cunicularius)," 
says  Darwin,  in  continuation  of  what  I  have  quoted  above,  "  re- 
sembles the  Oven-bird  in  the  general  reddish  tint  of  its  plumage, 
in  a  peculiar  shrill,  reiterated  cry,  and  an  odd  manner  of  running 
by  starts.  From  its  affinity,  the  Spaniards  call  it  Casarita  (or 
little  housebuilder),  although  its  modification  is  quite  different. 
The  Casarita  builds  its  nest  at  the  bottom  of  a  narrow  cylindrical 
hole,  which  is  said  to  extend  horizontally  to  nearly  six  feet  under 
ground.  Several  of  the  country  people  told  me  that  when  boys 
they  had  attempted  to  dig  out  the  nest,  but  had  scarcely  ever  suc- 
ceeded in  getting  to  the  end  of  the  passage.  The  bird  chooses  any 
low  bank  of  firm,  sandy  soil  by  the  side  of  a  road  or  stream. 
Here  (at  Bahia  Blanca)  the  walls  round  the  houses  are  built  of 
hardened  mud,  and  I  noticed  that  one,  which  inclosed  a  court- 
yard where  I  lodged,  was  bored  through  by  round  holes  in  a 
score  of  places.  On  asking  the  owner  the  cause  of  this,  he  bit- 
terly complained  of  the  little  Casarita,  several  of  which  I  after- 
ward observed  at  work.  It  is  rather  curious  to  find  how  incap- 
able these  birds  must  be  of  acquiring  any  notion  of  thickness, 
for  although  they  were  constantly  flitting  over  the  low  wall,  they 
continued  vainly  to  bore  through  it,  thinking  it  an  excellent  bank 
for  their  nests.  I  do  not  doubt  that  each  bird,  as  often  as  it  came 
to  daylight  on  the  opposite  side,  was  greatly  surprised  at  the  mar- 
velous fact." 

One  can  easily  imagine  how  much  an  instance  of  this  nature 
must  have  interested  Mr.  Darwin,  who  was  so  constantly  em- 
ployed in  search  of  facts  to  illustrate  the  various  grades  of  rea- 
son as  exemplified  in  all  kinds  of  animals. 

Numerous  other  naturalists  besides  Darwin  have  written  about 
these  wonderfully  interesting  oven-birds  of  South  America,  ;m<l 
special  reference  may  be  made  to  the  works  of  Durnford,  Hudson, 
Gibson,  Burmeister,  and  Dorbigny.  Each  or  any  of  these  may  be 
read  with  profit  and  interest.  As  Professor  Newton  tells  us, 
however,  the  figures  of  the  nests  of  Furnarius  are,  as  a  rule,  very 
poor  indeed;  that  is,  apart  from  the  one  here  reproduced,  which 
was  presented  to  the  Cambridge  Museum,  of  England,  by  Mr.  J. 
Young. 

In  concluding  this  chapter  I  am  prompted  to  say  I  hope  it  will 
at  least  have  the  effect  of  inciting  its  readers  who,  either 


OF    THE    UNITED    STATES  363 

professionally  or  otherwise,  may  be  naturalists,  to  study 
more  closely  the  habits  of  our  common  birds.  It  is  a  mar- 
vel to  me  sometimes  how  very  imperfect  our  knowledge  is  in 
such  matters.  I  have  found  ornithologists  of  repute  who  will 
aver  that  "  our  Oven-bird  never  builds  except  upon  a  sidehill " ; 
the  entrance  to  its  nest  "  always  faces  south,"  and  that  the  bird 
by  structure  is  nothing  more  nor  less  than  a  big  American  war- 
bler— and  so  on.  Frequent  and  carefully  recorded  observations 
are  the  only  methods  known  to  me  by  means  of  which  such  myths 
as  these  may  be  dissipated,  and  the  truth  introduced  in  their 
place. 


CHAPTER  XXIV. 

THE  COMMON   OPOSSUM  AND  ITS  KIN. 

(Didelpliys  virginiana.) 

HE  Common  Opossum  stands  the  lowest  in  point  of  de- 
velopment of  all  the  members  representing  the  mam- 
malian fauna  of  the  United  States;  therefore  in  any 
list  of  mammals  of  this  country,  presented  in  linear  se- 
ries, the  Opossums  are  given  first,  in  order  to  indicate  this  fact. 
Belonging,  however,  as  they  do  to  the  marsupial  group  of  ani- 
mals, the  opossums  are  in  another  sense  the  most  typically  mam- 
malian of  all  the  class  Mammalia.  The  reason  assigned  for  this 
is,  that  in  them  respiration,  as  performed  by  the  lungs,  and  the 
maternal  secretion  of  milk  appear  earlier  and  thus  antedate  all 
other  modes  in  supplying  the  requisite  amount  of  oxygen  and 
nutriment  for  the  development  of  the  young.  As  in  other  mar- 
supials the  presence  of  the  mammary  glands  in  this  group,  and 
the  healthy  operation  of  their  milk-secreting  function  is  abso- 
lutely essential  to  the  perpetuation  of  the  species.  Taken  as  an 
order  the  marsupial  animals  are  confined  to  the  American  con- 
tinent and  to  the  Australian  region,  and  although  in  their  exter- 
nal forms  and  internal  structure  they  exhibit  very  notable  di- 
versity, yet  for  the  sake  of  convenience  naturalists  continue  to 
thus  group  them  as  the  Marsupialia.  As  thus  restricted  they 
constitute  the  subclass  (of  the  class  Mammalia)  termed  the  Meta- 
theria  or  DidelpMa. 

Opossums,  or  the  family  Didelpliidce,  are  peculiar  to  the  conti- 
nent of  America,  not  now  being  found  in  any  other  part  of  the 
world,  though  they  there  formerly  existed,  as  fossil  remains  of 
them  have  been  found  in  the  Eocene  and  early  Miocene  periods 
of  Europe. 

Mr.  Oldfield  Thomas,  of  the  British  Museum,  a  great  author- 
ity upon  mammals,  says  of  the  existing  forms  that  "  opossums 
are  small  animals,  varying  from  the  size  of  a  mouse  to  that  of  a 
large  cat,  with  long  noses,  ears,  and  tails,  the  latter  being,  as  a 
rule,  naked  and  prehensile,  and  with  great  toes  so  fully  oppos- 
able  to  the  other  digits  as  to  constitute  a  functionally  perfect 
posterior  pair  of  '  hands.7  These  opposable  great  toes  are  with- 
out nail  or  claw,  but  their  tips  are  expanded  into  broad,  flat  pads. 


FIG.  91.     YOUNG  OF  AMERICAN  OPOSSUM  (D.  virc/ininnd). 

Natural  size;  about  two  months  old.     Photograph  from  life  by  the  Author. 


OF    THE    UNITED    STATES  367 

which  are,  no  doubt,  of  the  greatest  use  to  such  a  climbing  ani- 
mal as  an  opossum.  On  the  anterior  limbs  all  the  five  digits 
are  provided  with  long  sharp  claws,  and  the  pollex  or  thumb  is 
but  little  opposable.  Their  numerous  teeth  are  covered  with 
minute  sharply  pointed  cusps,  with  which  to  crush  the  insects 
on  which  they  feed,  for  the  opossums  seem  to  take  in  South 
America  the  place  in  the  economy  of  nature  filled  in  other  coun- 
tries by  the  true  Insectivora,  the  hedgehogs,  moles,  and  shrews. 

"  The  family  consists  of  two  well-recognized  genera  only,  viz., 
Didelphys,  containing  all  the  members  of  the  family,  with  the  ex- 
ception of  the  Tapock,  a  curious  animal  which  forms  by  itself 
the  second  genus,  CMronectes,  and  is  distinguished  from  all  other 
opossums  by  its  webbed  feet,  non-tuberculated  soles,  and  pecu- 
liar coloration.  Its  ground  color  is  light  gray,  with  four  or  five 
sharply  contrasted  brown  bands  passing  across  its  head  and 
back,  giving  it  a  very  peculiar  mottled  appearance.  It  is  almost 
wholly  aquatic  in  its  habits,  living  on  small  fish,  crustaceans, 
and  other  water  animals;  its  range  extends  from  Guatemala  to 
southern  Brazil." 

As  has  already  been  stated  above,  the  genus  Didelphys  con- 
tains all  the  other  forms  of  opossums,  and  a  very  heterogeneous 
collection  they  are;  D.  virginiana  or  our  common  Virginia  or 
American  opossum  being  by  far  the  best  known  representative 
of  the  genus.  This  genus  Didelphys  could  doubtless  with  truth 
and  propriety  be  split  up  into  several  well-defined  genera,  each 
possessing  good  generic  characters.  For  example,  some  of  the 
species  of  opossums  are  large-sized  ones,  like  our  United  States 
form,  with  coarse,  long,  dark-colored  pelage,  big  leafy  ears,  com- 
pletely developed  marsupial  pouches,  and  with  distinguishing 
internal  anatomical  characters.  The  Crab-Eating  opossum  (D. 
cancrivora)  of  South  and  Central  America,  is  another  well- 
known  type  of  this  group,  and  not  very  unlike  the  American 
opossum. 

"  The  second  group,  or  subgenus,  named  Metachirus"  as  re- 
marked by  Thomas,  "  contains  a  considerable  number  of  species 
found  all  over  the  tropical  parts  of  the  New  World.  They  are  of 
medium  size,  with  short,  close  fur,  very  long,  scaly,  and  naked 
tails,  and  have  less  developed  ridges  on  their  skulls.  They  have, 
as  a  rule,  no  pouches  in  which  to  carry  their  young,  and  the  lat- 
ter therefore  commonly  ride  on  their  mother's  back,  holding  on 
by  winding  their  prehensile  tails  round  hers."  The  Lord  Derby's 


368  CHAPTERS    ON    THE    NATURAL    HISTORY 

Opossum  (D.  derbiana)  typifies  this  group,  the  third  one  having 
been  named  Micoureus  (or  Gri/mironiys  of  Burmeister),  it  "  differ- 
ing only  from  Metachirus  by  the  comparatively  smaller  size  of 
its  members  and  by  certain  slight  differences  in  the  shape  of 
their  teeth.  Its  best  known  species  is  the  Murine  opossum  (D. 
murina),  no  larger  than  a  house-mouse,  of  a  bright-red  color, 
which  is  found  as  far  north  as  central  Mexico,  and  extends 
thence  right  down  to  the  south  of  Brazil.  The  last  subgenus 
contains  three  or  four  wonderfully  shrew-like  species,  of  very 
small  size,  with  short,  hairy,  and  non-prehensile  tails,  not  half 
the  length  of  the  trunk,  and  with  wholly  unridged  skulls.  The 
most  striking  member  of  this  group  is  the  Three-striped  opos- 
sum (D.  tristriata) ,  from  Brazil,  which  is  of  a  reddish-gray  col- 
or, with  three  clearly  defined  deep-black  bands  down  its  back, 
very  much  as  in  some  of  the  striped  mice  of  Africa.  This  sub- 
genus  has  been  named  Hemiurus  or  "  half-tail "  by  Geoffroy 
Saint-Hilaire  (Microdelphys  of  Burmeister),  and  should  perhaps 
be  allowed  full  generic  rank." 

Very  considerable  attention  has  been  paid  to  the  anatomy  of 
the  DidelphyidcB,  and  some  of  this  is  from  the  pens  of  American 
writers;  still  the  subject  has  by  no  means  been  exhausted,  and 
good  contributions  to  it  are  still  in  order,  and  will  be  highly  ap- 
preciated by  science,  come  from  what  quarter  they  may.  Espe- 
cially is  it  to  be  desired  that  the  morphology  of  the  young  of  this 
family  be  thoroughly  worked  out,  giving  the  various  stages  of 
development  from  the  time  of  conception  to  the  time  of  subadult 
life. 

In  speaking  in  a  general  way  of  the  anatomy  of  the  Marsu- 
pialia,  Sir  William  Henry  Flower,  now  in  charge  of  the  Nat- 
ural History  Departments  of  the  British  Museum,  has  said 
the  "  mammae  vary  much  in  number,  but  are  always  abdom- 
inal in  position,  have  long  teats,  and  in  most  of  the  species 
are  more  or  less  enclosed  in  a  fold  of  the  integument, 
forming  a  pouch  or  marsupium,  though  in  some  this  is  entirely 
wanting,  and  the  newly-born,  blind,  naked,  and  helpless  young, 
attached  by  their  mouths  to  the  teat,  are  merely  concealed  and 
protected  by  the  hairy  covering  of  the  mother's  abdomen.  In 
this  stage  of  their  existence  they  are  fed  by  milk  injected  into 
their  stomach  by  the  contraction  of  the  muscles  covering  the 
mammary  gland,  the  respiratory  organs  being  modified  tempor- 
arily, much  as  they  are  permanently  in  the  Cetacea, — the  elonga- 


OF    THE    UNITED    STATES  369 

ted  upper  part  of  the  larynx  projecting  into  the  posterior  nares, 
and  so  maintaining  a  free  communication  between  the  lungs  and 
the  external  surface  independently  of  the  mouth  and  gullet,  thus 
averting  the  danger  of  suffocation  while  the  milk  is  passing 
down  the  latter  passage." 

Our  American  opossum  is  chiefly  found  in  the  southern  and 
southwestern  States,  as  far  north  as  New  Jersey  and  Pennsyl- 
vania. It  has  also  been  found,  I  believe,  in  California,  and  they 
are  very  abundant  all  over  the  State  of  Virginia,  and,  during  the 
proper  season,  a  great  many  of  them  are  exposed  for  sale,  ready 
dressed,  in  the  markets  of  Washington,  D.  C. 

A  year  or  more  ago  I  was  greatly  indebted  to  Professor  W.  P. 
Hay,  who  has  charge  of  the  biological  department  of  the  Central 
High  School  of  Washington,  D.  C.,  for  the  loan  of  an  old  female 
opossum  (D.  virginiana)  with  her  brood  of  young  ones.  To  the 
best  of  my  recollection  there  were  nine  of  these  latter  originally, 
but  when  I  received  the  animal  she  had  only  seven,  they  all  hav- 
ing been  born  about  two  months  previous,  and  two  had  died 
quite  early  in  the  career  of  the  family.  A  large  box  was  pre- 
pared for  her  as  a  temporary  habitation,  one  side  of  it  being 
covered  by  a  coarse  wire  netting,  and  the  bottom  made  comfort- 
able by  a  generous  layer  of  coarse  sawdust. 

She  fed  somewhat  sparingly  upon  raw  flesh  of  various  kinds, 
and  would  drink  about  a  pint  of  milk  in  the  course  of  twenty- 
four  hours,  her  feeding  being  generally  done  at  night.  She  did 
not  appear  to  be  very  solicitous  of  her  young,  and  made  barely 
any  resistance  when  one  picked  them  up  to  be  examined.  Fre- 
quently she  would  roll  up  partially  into  a  ball,  and  then  when  a 
young  one  was  taken  away  from  her  she  simply  gave  vent  to  a 
kind  of  gutteral  hiss,  accompanied  by  a  sluggish  grin. 

Shortly  after  coming  into  my  possession,  she,  through  care- 
lessness, I  believe,  killed  another  one  of  her  brood,  while  one  or 
two  more  fell  into  the  water  or  milk  and  were  drowned;  she 
meanwhile  not  seeming  to  care  very  much,  nor  did  she,  appar- 
ently, make  any  attempt  to  rescue  them  from  their  fate.  Her 
young  ones,  when  fully  as  large  as  small  rats,  would  nurse  her 
many  times  a  day,  sometimes  three  or  four  of  them  attaching 
themselves  to  her  teats  at  once ;  sprawling  over  each  other,  being 
in  her  pouch,  partially  in  it,  or  just  having  the  head  within  the 
hairy  margins  of  the  entrance. 

I  found  these  young  opossums  extremely  difficult  subjects  to 


370  CHAPTERS    ON    THE    NATURAL    HISTORY 

get  good  photographs  of,  from  the  fact  that  they  were  so  rest- 
less when  taken  away  from  their  mother.  They  were  not 
sprightly  at  all,  but  simply  kept  sluggishly  on  the  move;  first 
gaping,  then  twitching  their  ears  or  curling  up  their  tails,  and 
finally,  when  kept  away  too  long,  they  would  commence  to  shiver 
all  over.  However,  I  succeeded  at  last,  after  many  trials,  and 
reproductions  of  two  of  my  attempts  are  presented  as  illustra- 
tions to  the  present  chapter. 

If  there  be  such  a  thing  in  nature  as  "  a  chip  of  the  old  block," 
then  we  most  assuredly  find  it  in  a  young  opossum,  for  any  one 
of  these  little  fellows  was  the  veriest  chip  alive  of  its  sleepy  old 
dame.  It  would  walk  along  a  twig,  holding  on  in  the  same  curi- 
ous manner  with  its  hand-like  feet,  just  as  the  mother  pro- 
gressed upon  a  larger  branch;  while  thus  engaged,  its  little  pre- 
hensile tail  also  came  into  use,  and  it  would  curl  its  delicate 
distal  end  about  the  twig  in  a  gingerly  sort  of  way,  with  some 
evident  infantile  misgivings  that  it  could  be  much  relied  upon  in 
event  its  tiny  feet  became  exhausted  from  the  task. 

During  the  daytime  they  were  almost  continually  gaping,  and 
made  up  a  most  ludicrous  face  when  they  did,  that  was  sure  to 
excite  the  laughter  of  those  that  beheld  it,  even  after  a  number 
of  repetitions. 

Their  marsupial  pouches  at  this  age  are  quite  rudimentary, 
but  still  perfectly  evident,  while  the  bushy  extension  of  the  hair 
at  the  root  of  the  tail  is  distinctly  seen.  The  hair  of  the  body  is 
long  and  coarse,  being  much  shorter  and  finer  upon  the  head, 
while  upon  the  rather  large  white  ears  it  is  sparse  and  extremely 
fine.  Long  white  hairs  are  produced  from  either  side  of  the 
snout  and  from  above  either  eye,  the  latter  being  round,  not 
large,  black,  and  twinkling.  The  mouth  has  a  capacious  gape, 
and  the  entire  face  and  snout  are  pointed,  as  in  the  old  one.  By 
the  use  of  tail  and  feet  these  young  opossums  are  enabled  to 
hang  on  to  the  coat  of  the  mother,  and  when  they  all  got  into  the 
hair  of  her  back  they  presented  a  very  odd  and  amusing  picture, 
to  say  nothing  of  the  enjoyment  they  exhibited,  howbeit  it  was 
shown  in  such  a  sleepy  way. 

A  popular  writer  and  observer  at  my  hand  says  an  old  opos- 
sum of  this  species  "  is  very  prolific,  producing  from  six  to  fifteen 
at  a  birth.  The  young  at  this  period  are  well  formed,  and  weigh 
from  three  to  four  grains  each.  As  soon  as  produced  they  are 
shoved  into  the  pouch  by  the  mother  with  her  snout,  and  pushed 


OF    THE    UNITED    STATES 


371 


near  the  nipples,  which  they  find  and  grasp  by  instinct.  Their 
growth  is  very  rapid;  at  a  week  old  they  weigh  thirty  grains. 
They  remain  in  the  pouch,  attached  to  the  nipple,  till  they  are 
able  to  move  about.  At  the  age  of  four  weeks  they  occasionally 
leave  the  nipple,  and  may  be  seen  peeping  out  of  their  sack;  a 
week  afterward  they  venture  forth,  but  keep  close  to  the  mother, 
and  hold  on  to  her  by  their  tails.  Sometimes,  with  a  dozen 
young  ones  of  the  size  of  rats  thus  clinging  around  her  legs, 
neck,  and  body,  and  some  of  them  dragging  along  on  the  ground, 


FIG.  92.     YOUNG  OF  AMERICAN  OPOSSUM  (D.  virginiana). 

Natural  size;  about  two  months  old;  right  lateral  view  of  the  same  specimen  shown  in  Fig.  88.     Photo- 
graph from  life  by  the  Author. 

she  may  be  seen  going  about  in  search  of  food.  At  this  age  these 
animals  are  pretty.  They  remain  with  the  mother  till  about  two 
months  old;  they  then  learn  to  take  care  of  themselves,  but  con- 
tinue in  the  vicinity,  seeming  still  to  be  under  maternal  guard- 
ianship in  a  certain  degree.  Meantime  another  brood  is  pro- 
duced, and  during  the  season  a  third,  and  some  of  all  these  may 
be  seen  at  once  with  their  prolific  parent." 

Some  of  the  Australian  marsupials  have  been  called  there 
"  opossums  "  by  the  settlers,  but,  as  has  already  been  stated,  there 
are  no  true  opossums  in  Australia.  That  great  continent,  how- 
ever, is  the  headquarters  for  the  order,  and  many  of  the  remark- 


372  CHAPTERS    ON    THE    NATURAL    HISTORY 

able  kin  of  our  common  Opossum  in  this  country  are  to  be  met 
with  there. 

Taken  as  a  group,  naturalists  find  that  the  marsupials  readily 
fall  into  six  very  natural  families,  the  divisions  being  based 
chiefly  upon  dental  and  other  anatomical  characters. 

Following  the  Didelphidw,  we  have  the  Dasyuridw,  represented 
by  the  famous  Thylacine,  better  known  as  the  Tasmanian  Wolf 
or  Devil,  or  Zebra  Wolf  or  Zebra  Opossum  (Thylacinus  cyano- 
cephalus),  the  only  species  of  the  genus  known.  It  is  a  dog-like 
looking  animal  confined  now  to  the  island  of  Tasmania,  and  the 
largest  marsupial  of  predaceous  habit  now  in  existence.  The 
conspicuous  transverse  bars  on  its  back  and  loins  constitute  a 
marked  character,  the  general  color  being  grayish-brown. 

Rapid  extermination  now  seems  to  be  this  animal's  fate,  and 
the  savage  havoc  it  formerly  committed  among  the  sheep  of  the 
Tasmanian  settlers,  is  now  largely  an  early  chapter  in  its  life- 
history.  Another  voracious  animal  confined  to  the  same  country 
and  belonging  to  the  same  family  is  the  "  Native  Devil,"  a  crea- 
ture about  the  size  of  a  badger,  and  likewise  with  fossorial 
habits.  (D.  ursinus). 

Belated  forms  are  found  in  Australia,  and  in  New  Guinea, 
where  likewise  occur  the  peculiar  rat-like  marsupials  of  the 
genus  Phascogale,  and  perhaps  the  still  more  remarkable  Myrme- 
cobius,  of  which  latter  only  one  species  is  known,  the  M .  fasciatus 
of  western  and  southern  Australia.  "  It  is  about  the  size  of  an 
English  squirrel, to  which  animal  its  long  bushy  tail  gives  it  some 
resemblance;  but  it  lives  entirely  on  the  ground,  especially  in 
sterile,  sandy  districts,  feeding  on  ants.  Its  prevailing  color  is 
chestnut-red,  but  the  hinder  part  of  the  back  is  elegantly  marked 
with  broad,  white,  transverse  bands  on  a  dark  ground." 
(Flower.) 

In  the  family  Peramelidw  we  also  find  some  of  the  most  re- 
markable and  remote  kin  of  our  American  opossum.  Recently 
some  very  interesting  anatomical  developments  have  come  to 
light  in  regard  to  animals  of  this  group,  giving  them  an  impor- 
tance in  the  study  of  the  law  of  evolution  not  previously  seen 
in  them.  Various  species  make  up  the  genera,  and  in  Australia 
they  are  widely  known  by  the  names  of  "  Bandicoots  "  (Pera- 
meles),  "Native  Babbits"  (M acrotis) ;  and  in  the  case  of  the 
peculiar  little  Chceropus  castanotis, — the  "  Pig-footed  Bandicoot." 

Other  famous  marsupials  are  all  the  forms  of  kangaroos  of 


OF    THE    UNITED    STATES  373 

the  family  Macro  pod  idee,  as  well  as  the  remarkable  animals  con- 
stituting the  family  Phalangistidce,  and  the  family  Phascolo- 
myidce,  but  these  are  only  referred  to  in  order  to  show  what  a 
great  variety  of  relatives  our  common  United  States  Opossum 
has  in  those  far-off  regions;  howbeit,  it  must  not  be  forgotten 
that  although  the  marsupial  family  Didelphidce  are  thus  related, 
the  gap  sometimes  separating  them  is  quite  profound,  as  for  ex- 
ample, the  one  that  divides  the  Didelphidce  from  the  Peramelidce. 
In  other  words,  an  American  Opossum  and  a  Bandicoot  (P. 
gunnli)  are  two  wonderfully  different  animals,  and  in  the  future, 
the  more  we  know  of  their  anatomy,  the  more  will  this  fact  come 
to  be  appreciated. 

The  fossil  bones  of  opossums  found  in  the  bone-caves  of  Brazil, 
belonged  to  types  of  didelphian  species  either  identical  with  or 
closely  allied  to  those  forms  now  existing  in  the  same  country. 


CHAPTER  XXV. 

WHALES  AND  MANATEES. 

(Cetacea:  Sirenia.) 

WING  to  the  enormous  extent  of  coast-line  belonging 
to  the  United  States,  washed  as  it  is  by  the  Arctic 
Seas,  the  Atlantic  and  Pacific  Oceans,  and  the  Gulf 
of  Mexico,  it  permits  of  adding  to  the  fauna  of  the 
country  many  of  the  order  Cetacea,  or  those  marine  mammals 
known  as  whales,  dolphins,  and  porpoises.  Outside  of  the  few 
who  have  especially  studied  these  great  oceanic  animals,  of  more 
or  less  fish-like  form,  it  is  but  a  limited  number  who  realize  how 
numerous  are  the  species  we  can  lay  claim  to  as  having  occurred 
some  time  or  other  upon  our  coasts. 

Some  years  ago  the  United  States  National  Museum  of  Wash- 
ington, D.  C.,  published  a  provisional  list  of  these  highly  interest- 
ing mammals,  and  this  I  here  present,  simply  in  order  to  give 
some  idea  of  what  an  extensive  group  the  Cetacea  really  is : 

ORDER  CETACEA.    CETACEANS. 

SUBORDER  DENTICETE.    TOOTHED  WHALES. 

Family  PHYSETERID^.     The  Sperm  Whales. 

Sotalia  pallida,  Gervais.    Florida  (?). 

?  Steno  fuscus,  Gray.    Cuba. 

Steno  compressus,  Gray.    Gulf  of  Mexico  (?). 

Delphinus  bairdii,  Dall.    Baird's  Dolphin.    Coast  of  California. 

Delphinus  delphis,  Linn6.  Common  Dolphin.    Atlantic  Ocean. 

Delphinus  janira,  Gray.    The  Janira.    Newfoundland  (Gray). 

?  Prodelphinus  euphrosyne  (Gray),  True.    North  Atlantic  Ocean. 

Leucorhamphus  borealis  (Peale),  Gill.  Right-whale  Porpoise. 
Pacific  coast  of  North  America. 

Lagenorhynchus  acutus,  Gray.  Eschricht's  Dolphin.  North 
Atlantic  Ocean. 

Lagenorhynchus  albirostris,  Gray.  White-beaked  Bottlenose. 
North  Atlantic  Ocean. 

Lagenorhynchus  oUiquidens,  Gill.  Striped  or  Common  Dolphin. 
Pacific  coast  of  the  United  States. 

Lagenorhynchus  thicolea,  Gray.    West  coast  of  North  America. 


OF    THE    UNITED    STATES  375 

Lagenorhynchus  gubenator,  Cope.  Skunk  Porpoise.  Coast  of 
New  England. 

Lagenorhynchus  perspicillatus,  Cope.  Atlantic  coast  of  the 
United  States. 

Tursiops  tursio  (Bonnaterre),  Van  Ben.  &  Gervais.  Bottle- 
nosed  Dolphin.  North  Atlantic  Ocean. 

Tursiops  gillii,  Ball.  Cowfish.  Pacific  coast  of  the  United 
States. 

Tursiops  erebennus,  (Cope)  Gill.  Black  Dolphin.  Atlantic  coast 
of  the  United  States. 

Orca  gladiator,  (Bonnaterre)  Gray.  Atlantic  Killer.  Atlantic 
Ocean. 

Orca  atra,  Cope.  Pacific  Killer.  Pacific  coast  of  North  Ameri- 
ca. 

Orca  pacifica,  (Gray).    North  Pacific  Ocean.  (?) 

Globiocephalus  melas,  (Traill).  Blackfish.  North  Atlantic 
Ocean. 

Globiocephalus  brachypterus,  Cope.  Short-finned  Blackfish. 
Coast  of  New  Jersey. 

Globiocephalus  scammoni,  (Cope).  Scammon's  Blackfish.  Paci- 
fic coast  of  North  America  and  southward. 

Grampus  griseus,  (Cuvier)  Gray.  Grampus.  North  Atlantic 
Ocean. 

Grampus  stearnsii,  Dall.  Mottled  or  White-headed  Grampus. 
Pacific  coast  of  North  America. 

Delphinapterus  catodon,  (Linn6)  Gill.  White  Whale.  Arctic 
and  Subarctic  seas. 

Monodon  monoceros,  Linne'.    Narwhal.    Arctic  seas. 

Phocwna  cummunis.  Lesson.  Puffing-Pig.  Herring-Hog.  North 
Atlantic  Ocean. 

Phoc&na  lineata,  Cope.  Striped  Porpoise.  Atlantic  coast  of 
the  United  States. 

Phocwna  vom,erina,  Gill.  California  Bay  Porpoise.  Pacific 
coast  of  the  United  States. 

Family  ZIPHIID^:.     Bottle-nose  Whales. 

Berardius  bairdii,  Stejneger.    Baird's  Whale.    Bering  Island. 
Hyperoodon  rostratus,  (Chemnitz)  Wesmael.  Bottle-nose  Whale. 
North  Atlantic  Ocean. 

Ziphius  cavirostris,  Cuvier.    Temperate  and  tropical  seas. 
?  Ziphius  semijunctus,  (Cope).    Atlantic  Ocean. 


376  CHAPTERS    ON    THE    NATURAL    HISTORY 

Ziphius  grebnitzkii,  Stejneger.  Grebnitzky's  Bottle-nose  Whale. 
Bering  Island. 

Mesoplodon  soicerbiensis,  Gervais.  Sowerby's  Whale.  Temper- 
ate North  Atlantic. 

Family  PHYSETERIDAE.    The  Sperm,  Whales. 

Physeter  macrocephalus,  Linne*.  Sperm  Whale.  Temperate  and 
tropical  seas. 

Kogia  breviceps,  (De  Blainville)  Gray.  Pygmy  Sperm  Whale. 
Temperate  and  tropical  seas. 

SUBORDER  MYSTICETE.    WHALEBONE  WHALES. 
Family  BALAENIDAE. 

Rhachianectes  glaucus,  Cope.  Devil-fish.  Gray  Whale.  Pacific 
€oast  of  North  America. 

Agaphelus  gibbosus,  Cope.     (?)  Scragg  Whale.     North  Atlantic. 

Megaptera  longimana  (Rud.),  Gray.  Humpback  Whale.  North 
Atlantic  Ocean. 

Megaptera  bellicosa,  Cope.  Caribbean  Humpback  Whale.  Car- 
ibbean Sea. 

Megaptera  versabilis,  Cope.  Humpback  Whale.  North  Pacific 
Ocean. 

Physalus  antiquorum,  (Fischer)  Gray.  Finback  Whale;  Razor- 
back.  North  Atlantic  Ocean. 

Physalus  sibbaldiij  Gray.    North  Atlantic  Ocean. 

Balcenoptera  rostratus,  (Muller)  Gray.  Piked  Whale  (?  Gram- 
pus of  New  England  Fishermen).  North  Atlantic  Ocean. 

Balwnoptera  davidsoni,  Scammon.  Finback  Whale.  North- 
eastern Pacific  Ocean. 

Sibbaldius  laticeps,  Gray.  Rudolphi's  Rorqual.  North  Atlan- 
tic Ocean. 

Sibbaldius  tuberosus,  Cope.     Mob  jack  Bay,  Virginia. 

Sibbaldius  veliferus,  (Cope).  Finback  Whale.  Pacific  Coast  of 
North  America. 

Sibbaldius  tectirostris,  Cope.     Coast  of  Maryland. 

Sibbaldius  sulfureus,  Cope.  Sulphur-bottom  Whale.  Pacific 
coast  of  North  America. 

Balcena  japonica,  Gray.  Right  Whale  of  North  Pacific.  North 
Pacific  Ocean. 

Balcena  biscayensis,  Gray.  Black  Whale;  Right  Whale  of  the 
North  Atlantic.  Temperate  North  Atlantic. 


OF    THE    UNITED    STATES  377 

Balwna  mysticetus,  Linne.    Bowliead  Whale.    Arctic  Seas. 

It  will  be  observed  of  the  species  enumerated  in  this  formid- 
able list,  that  the  vast  majority  of  them  actually  do  occur  in  our 
own  wraters,  but  this  fact  obviously  prevents  me  from  doing  more 
in  the  present  chapter  than  giving  some  of  the  general  characters 
and  habits  of  cetaceans,  with  very  brief  notice  of  the  more  inter- 
esting and  important  forms.  It  would  require  a  large  volume 
alone  to  do  full  justice  to  all  the  species  given  in  the  above  list. 

So  far  as  geology  up  to  the  present  time  has  been  enabled  to 
indicate  it  for  us,  we  are  obliged  to  confess  that  the  ancestry  of 
the  Cetacean  in  past  ages  is  still  involved  in  much  obscurity. 
Huge  serpent-like  forms  (Zenglodon)  have  been  found  in  the  fos- 
sil state  in  certain  parts  of  Alabama,  which  for  a  long  time  were 
considered  as  being  in  the  cetacean  line  of  descent,  but  more  re- 
cent investigation  seems  to  point  to  the  fact  that  the  seals  have  a 
better  claim  upon  those  ancient  forms  than  the  whales  have.  In 
other  parts  of  the  world  fossil  forms  have  been  discovered  which 
have  helped  us  to  a  better  solution,  but,  as  I  say,  we  are  still  a 
long  ways  from  being  in  possession  of  an  exact  knowledge  of  the 
origin  of  this  group,  as  we  are  in  the  case  of  many  other  ani- 
mals. One  thing,  however,  must  be  borne  fully  in  mind,  and  that 
is,  the  Whales  are  just  as  truly  mammalian  in  all  respects,  as  are 
such  animals  as  seals,  pigs,  or  bears.  Indeed,  they  are  nothing 
more  nor  less  than  monster  marine  mammals  that  have  become 
specially  modified  in  time  to  lead  strictly  an  aquatic  life  in  recent 
epochs. 

The  general  external  characters  of  W7hales  can  be  readily  ap- 
preciated from  the  figures  of  the  species  illustrating  this 
chapter;  the  fish-like  form  is  to  be  noted,  with  the  enormous 
head  in  some  of  the  species,  and  with  the  total  absence  of  any- 
thing like  unto  a  neck  in  all  the  forms;  the  peculiar  pattern  of 
the  horizontally  placed  tail  with  its  diverging,  lateral  "  flukes," 
posteriorly  divided  by  the  median  notch;  the  form  of  the  ante- 
rior paddles,  and  the  entire  absence  of  a  hinder  pair;  that  a  few 
of  the  species  may  have  a  showing  of  scattered  hairs  on  the  body, 
more  especially  near  the  mouth ;  the  small  eyes,  the  simple  aper- 
ture of  the  ears,  the  valvular  openings  of  the  nostrils  situated  on 
top  of  the  head;  and  a  number  of  other  points.  Whales  also 
possess  immediately  beneath  the  skin  a  thick  layer  of  fat  known 
as  the  "blubber,"  from  which  the  oil  is  manufactured,  and  for 
which  men  hunt  and  capture  them.  As  in  the  case  of  the  topo- 


378  CHAPTERS    ON    THE    NATURAL    HISTORY 

graphical  anatomy,  the  internal  structure  of  these  ponderous 
creatures  is  highly  interesting  and  instructive,  but  our  space  will 
admit  of  none  of  it  here.  But  it  will  be  proper  to  note,  however, 
that,  with  but  few  exceptions,  all  Whales  have  teeth,  and  that 
these  vary  greatly  in  number ;  never  being  preceded  by  a  milk  set, 
while  in  the  adult  right  whales  in  which  family  the  teeth  are  ab- 
sent, the  well-known  whalebone  is  seen  (baleen).  It  would  be  as 
well  to  remark,  too,  that  the  mammse  in  the  female  Whales  are 
situated  on  either  side  of  the  genital  fissure,  being  two  in  num- 
ber, and  each  being  under  the  control  of  a  special  compressor 
muscle  by  means  of  which  the  milk  of  the  mother  can  be  injected 
into  the  mouth  of  her  young  one  (there  being  rarely  two),  and  the 
latter  is  thus  enabled  to  nurse  under  water. 

Whales  of  all  species  subsist  on  animal  food  of  some  kind  or 
other,  such  as  for  example,  fish,  squids,  crustaceans,  and  the  me- 
dusae. The  Killers  (Orca)  alone  prey  upon  the  species  of  their 
own  order,  and  upon  such  other  warm-blooded  animals  as  seals 
and  their  kind. 

During  a  year  that  I  spent  at  sea  in  the  Gulf  of  Mexico  and  the 
South  Atlantic,  I  had  many  opportunities  to  observe  the  various 
kinds  of  whales  and  porpoises,  which  I  availed  myself  of  to  the 
fullest  extent,  and  have  seen  an  old  Sperm  whale  blow  many  and 
many  a  time.  Professor  Flower  well  describes  this  act  and  ac- 
cording to  this  eminent  authority,  when  speaking  of  what  a  help- 
less creature  a  whale  is  on  shore,  he  says  that  when  in  their  ele- 
ment, the  sea,  "  they  have,  however,  to  rise  very  frequently  to  the 
surface  for  the  purpose  of  respiration;  and,  in  relation  to  the 
constant  upward  and  downward  movement  in  the  water  thus 
necessitated,  their  principal  instrument  of  motion,  the  tail,  is  ex- 
panded horizontally,  quite  unlike  that  of  a  fish,  whose  move- 
ments are  mainly  in  straightforward  or  lateral  directions.  The 
position  of  the  respiratory  orifice  or  nostril  on  the  highest  part  of 
the  head  is  very  important  for  this  mode  of  life,  as  it  is  the  only 
part  of  the  body  the  exposure  of  which  above  the  surface  is  ab- 
solutely necessary.  Of  the  numerous  erroneous  ideas  connected 
with  natural  history,  few  are  so  widespread  and  still  so  firmly  be- 
lieved, notwithstanding  repeated  expositions  of  its  falsity,  as 
that  the  Cetacea  spout  out  through  their  blowholes  water  taken 
in  at  the  mouth.  The  fact  is,  the  '  spouting,'  or  more  properly 
<  blowing,'  of  the  Whale  is  nothing  more  than  the  ordinary  act  of 
expiration,  which  taking  place  at  longer  intervals  than  in  land 


OF  THE  UNITED  STATES  379 

animals,  is  performed  with  a  greater  amount  of  emphasis.  The 
moment  the  animal  rises  to  the  surface  it  forcibly  expels  from  its 
lungs  the  air  taken  in  at  the  last  inspiration,  which,  of  course, 
is  highly  charged  with  watery  vapor  in  consequence  of  the  nat- 
ural respiratory  changes.  This,  rapidly  condensing  in  the  cold 
atmosphere  in  which  the  phenomenon  is  generally  observed, 
forms  a  column  of  steam  or  spray,  which  has  been  erroneously 
taken  for  water.  It  also  often  happens,  especially  when  the  sur- 
face of  the  ocean  is  agitated  into  waves,  that  the  animal  com- 
mences its  expiratory  puff  before  the  orifice  has  quite  cleared  the 
top  of  the  water,  some  of  which  may  thus  be  driven  upward  with 
the  blast,  tending  to  complete  the  illusion.  In  hunting  Whales 
the  harpoon  often  pierces  the  lungs  or  air  passages  of  the  unfort- 
unate victim,  and  then  fountains  of  blood  may  be  forced  high  in 
the  air  through  the  blowholes,  as  commonly  depicted  in  scenes  of 


FIG.  93.     COMMON  DOLPHIN  (Delphinus  delphis).    (After  Flower.) 

Length  of  adult,  10  feet. 

arctic  adventure;  but  this  is  nothing  more  (allowance  being  made 
for  the  Whale's  peculiar  mode  of  breathing)  than  what  always 
follows  severe  wounds  of  the  respiratory  organs  of  other  ani- 
mals." 

The  refined  oil  known  as  "  spermaceti "  is  manufactured  from 
that  oil  which  is  found  in  the  great  cavity  above  the  skull  in  the 
Sperm  Whale,  while  "  ambergris,"  so  extensively  used  by  per- 
fumers in  their  art,  is  found  in  the  intestines  of  the  same  animal, 
and  sometimes  floating  on  the  surface  of  the  seas  they  inhabit. 

By  the  aid  of  modern  appliances,  the  chase  and  capture  of 
these  huge  mammals  has  within  recent  times  been  reduced  al- 
most to  a  science,  but  an  account  of  such  matters  would,  in  the 
opinion  of  the  writer,  be  out  of  place  in  the  present  connection, 
dealing  as  we  are  more  particularly  with  the  life  histories  of 
these  Cetaceans;  it  will  be  as  well  to  add,  however,  that  their 
constant  pursuit  and  destruction  by  man  must  in  due  time  tell 
markedly  on  their  numbers,  if  it  does  not  lead  to  their  actual  ex- 
termination. 


380  CHAPTERS    ON    THE    NATURAL    HISTORY 

Glancing  again  at  our  List  above  we  find  that  these  Cetaceans 
are  primarily  divided  into  Families  of  TOOTHED  WHALES,  BOTTLE- 
NOSE  WHALES,  SPERM  WHALES,  and  WHALEBONE  WHALES.  Among 

the  first  of  these  we  find  the  Common  Dolphin  (see  Fig.  93)  (D. 
delphis),  and  who  that  has  ever  been  out  for  an  ocean  voyage 
over  the  seas  that  he  inhabits,  does  not  know  him.  Suddenly  a 
"  school  "  of  them  will  appear  under  the  very  bows  of  your  ves- 
sel, plunging  in  and  out  of  the  water  in  graceful  curves,  and  in  a 
manner  most  fascinating  to  the  observer,  who  never  wearies  of 
the  sight.  Their  powerful,  tooth-armed  beaks  are  the  very  terror 
of  the  small  fishes  upon  which  they  habitually  prey,  and  it  is  an 
extraordinary  thing  to  see  the  agility  with  which  they  effect 
such  captures. 

Captain  Scammon,  speaking  of  the  Common  Porpoise  of  the 
Pacific  coast,  says,  "  They  are  seen  in  numbers  varying  from  a 
dozen  up  to  many  hundreds  tumbling  over  the  surface  of  the  sea, 
or  making  arching  leaps,  plunging  again  on  the  same  curve,  or 
darting  high  and  falling  diagonally  sidewTise  upon  the  water 
with  a  spiteful  splash,  accompanied  by  a  report  which  may  be 
heard  at  some  distance.  In  calm  weather  they  are  seen  in  num- 
erous shoals,  leaping,  plunging,  lobtailing  and  finning,  while  the 
assemblage  moves  swiftly  in  various  directions.  They  abound 
more  along  the  coasts  where  small  fish  are  found.  Occasion- 
ally a  large  number  of  them  will  get  into  a  school  of  fish,  frighten 
them  so  much  that  they  lose  nearly  all  control  of  their  move- 
ments, while  the  Porpoises  fill  themselves  to  repletion."  This 
species  is  the  L.  oNiquidens  of  our  List.  On  our  New  England 
coast  the  best  known  form  is  the  "  Skunk  porpoise,"  shown  in 
Fig.  94  of  the  present  chapter,  and  its  habits  are  fully  as  interest- 
ing as  those  of  the  Dolphin  of  which  we  have  just  been  speaking. 
Even  at  the  present  time,  it  is  by  no  means  a  rare  thing  to  dis- 
cover a  new  species  of  this  group,  and  undoubtedly  there  still 
remain  a  number  of  forms  as  yet  unknown  to  science. 

The  Orcas  or  Killer  whales  constitute  another  genus  of  this 
family,  and  they  are  only  too  well  known  to  the  whalemen  as  the 
veriest  wolves  of  the  high  seas,  often  robbing  them  of  their  hard- 
earned  spoils.  They  are  possessed  of  enormous  strength  and 
speed,  and  even  at  a  distance  at  sea  they  can  be  easily  recognized 
by  their  lofty  dorsal  fins,  an  appendage  which,  in  the  High-finned 
killer,  attains  to  the  enormous  height  of  six  feet.  These  merci- 
less animals  will  ravenously  attack  and  kill  the  biggest  whale 


^'      g 

OS     1 


gl 

«  s 

r    i     02 


OF    THE    UNITED    STATES  383 

that  ever  plowed  the  ocean,  and  devour  the  carcass  afterward, 
piecemeal ;  they  are  also  very  destructive  of  the  seals  about  the 
islands  inhabited  by  those  valuable  animals,  and  according  to 
Professor  Goode,  Eschricht  says  that  thirteen  porpoises  and  four- 
teen seals  were  found  in  the  stomach  of  an  Atlantic  Killer,  six- 
teen feet  in  length. 

The  Blackfishes  (Fig.  95)  are  a  medium-sized  whale  that  range 
over  their  oceanic  habitat  in  schools  sometimes  numbering  sev- 
eral hundreds;  they  are  not  especially  valuable  to  the  whalers, 
but  are  mercilessly  preyed  upon  by  the  Killer  whales. 

Earer  than  the  last-mentioned  species,  though  often  associated 
with  them,  are  the  Grampuses  (Fig.  96),  a  smaller  whale  than  they 
though  with  very  similar  habits,  and  we  are  told  that  they  make 
their  appearance  in  our  waters  only  about  once  in  ten  years. 
Professor  Flower  has  proved  beyond  all  manner  of  doubt  that  the 


FIG.  96.     THE  GKAMPUS  (Grampus  griseus). 

By  the  Author,  after  Elliott.    Length  of  adult,  20  feet. 

fantastic  markings  on  the  body  of  this  animal  are  normal  and  are 
not  due  to  scars  from  conflicts  with  their  fellows  or  other  species. 
A  fine  cast  of  a  Grampus  may  be  seen  and  studied  at  the  Smith- 
sonian Institution,  where  it  used  to  surmount  the  doorway  of  the 
main  entrance,  down-stairs. 

One  of  the  most  interesting  of  all  Cetaceans  is  the  Narwhal 
(Fig.  100),  an  animal  which  stands  responsible  for  the  Unicorn  of 
fancy,  and  which  is  now  restricted  in  its  range  to  the  northern 
shores  of  our  Alaskan  territories.  The  spiral  tusk  growing  from 
the  left  side  of  its  upper  jaw  is  a  modified  tooth  which  may  at- 
tain a  length  of  eight  or  ten  feet.  It  is  absent  in  the  female, 
the  sex  being  practically  toothless,  or  at  least  the  teeth  are  con- 
cealed in  the  jaw  as  is  the  case  on  the  right  side  in  the  male  Nar- 
whal. This  tusk  is  without  enamel,  and  a  single  one  is  valued 
at  |50,  the  ivory  being  put  to  a  variety  of  purposes.  Occasion- 
ally both  tusks  are  developed,  in  which  case  the  spirals  each 


384 


CHAPTERS    ON    THE    NATURAL    HISTORY 


turn  the  same  way,  or  the  twist  has  the  same  direction.  Nor- 
whals  feed  upon  small  fish  and  crustaceans. 

Herring  Hogs  (Phoccena)  are  representatives  of  another  very 
interesting  genus  (Fig.  97) ;  these  animals  are  also  known  as  the 
Harbor  porpoises  or  "  puffing  pigs  " ;  they  have  earned  their  last 
name  from  their  habit  of  puffing  and  grunting  as  they  disport 
themselves  in  the  surf  or  as  they  roll  in  the  breakers  at  the 
mouths  of  harbors  and  rivers.  These  Herring  hogs  are  very  de- 
structive of  several  species  of  the  small  edible  fish,  and  of  oys- 
ters, but  they  in  turn  are  often  attacked  and  killed  by  the  Por- 
poises. 

To  represent  the  next  family,  the  Bottle-nose  whales,  I  have 
given  a  figure  of  Hyperoodon  Udens.  But  very  little  is  known  of 
these  forms  and  the  nomenclature  of  the  group  is  not  in  a  very 
satisfactory  condition. 


FIG.  94.     THE  "  HERRING  HOG"  (Phoccena  communis). 

Copied  by  the  Author  from  a  photograph  by  the  U.  S.  Fish  Commission.    Length  of  adult,  rather  more 

than  4  feet. 


Passing  next  to  the  family  of  the  true  Sperm  whales 
(Physeteridce),  we  find  them  represented  by  the  Giant  Sperm  and 
the  Pigmy  Sperm  whales. 

The  Sperm  whale  or  Cachalot  (P.  macrocephalus)  is  a  very  well- 
known  cetacean,  one  of  wide  distribution  and  of  great  commer- 
cial importance  (Fig.  98).  In  this  species  the  male  may  attain  the 
enormous  length  of  84  feet,  whereas  the  females  are  not  more 
than  one-third  as  large,  and  are  slenderer.  In  color  these  animals 
are  of  a  blackish  brown  above, paler  on  their  sides, and  grayish  on 
the  under  parts;  very  old  ones  are  gray  on  top  of  the  head  and 
about  the  nostrils.  They  feed  on  small  fish  principally,  and 
squids;  it  is  related  that  several  hundred  mackeral  have  been 
taken  from  the  stomach  of  a  third  grown  one.  All  times  of  the 
year  is  the  breeding  season  for  them,  and  one  at  a  birth  is  the 
rule,  never  more  than  two.  The  female  nurses  her  young  by  re- 


OF^THB    UNITED    STATES  387 

dining  quietly  on  her  side,  as  she  floats  passively  on  the  sur- 
face of  the  ocean.  The  period  of  gestation  is  said  to  be  ten 
months. 

Its  actions  and  habits  under  various  circumstances  are  famil- 
iar to  the  most  of  us,  and  have  been  well  described  by  Scam- 
mon ;  the  "  blowing  "  of  this  whale,  and  the  usual  products  it 
yields,  I  have  already  alluded  to  above. 

Turning  to  the  Suborder  MYSTICETE  of  our  List,  we  find  a 
splendid  array  of  species  representing  the  animals  known  as  the 
Whalebone  whales,  all  of  which  are  creatures  of  great  size,  and 
valuable  for  the  products  they  yield  to  men.  Of  no  little  im- 
portance among  these  is  the  whalebone  of  commerce,  but  this  is 
principally  obtained  from  the  Bowhead  whale  (Fig.  99)  of  the 
Polar  Seas.  The  habits  of  the  Bowhead  partake  of  the  habits  of 
whales  generally,  with  a  number  of  very  interesting  ones  peculi- 
arly its  own.  Professor  Goode  remarks  that  "  The  food  of  the 
Bowhead  consists  of  floating  animals,  classed  by  the  whalemen 
under  the  names  t  right  whale  feed '  and  '  brit.'  Many  kinds  of 
invertebrates  are,  of  course,  included  under  these  general  terms, 
one  of  the  most  abundant  of  which  is,  perhaps,  a  kind  of  winged 
or  pteropod  mollusk,  the  Clio  borealis,  which  occurs  in  the  north- 
ern seas,  floating  in  great  masses.  When  the  Bowhead  is  feeding 
it  moves  with  considerable  velocity  near  the  surface,  its  jaws 
being  open  to  allow  the  passage  of  currents  of  water  into  the  cav- 
ity of  the  mouth  and  through  the  layers  of  baleen  at  the  sides. 
All  eatable  substances  are  strained  out  by  the  fringes  of  the  ba- 
leen and  are  swallowed."  Much  more  could  be  said  about  these 
whalebone  whales,  but  I  find  my  space  already  nearly  exhausted, 
and  I  still  have  a  few  concluding  remarks  to  make  of  no  little  im- 
portance. 

My  studies  of  the  Cetaceans  and  my  reading  about  them  have 
both  convinced  me  that  the  Order  has  by  no  means  received  the 
attention  at  the  hands  of  descriptive  zoologists  and  anatomists 
that  it  so  justly  deserves.  This  neglect  can  be  atoned  for  in 
many  ways,  and  more  especially  by  such  persons  as  reside  the 
year  round  either  upon  the  Atlantic  or  Pacific  seaboards,  or  by 
capable  observers  who  lead  a  seafaring  life.  Lighthouse  keep- 
ers and  whalemen  both  have  excellent  opportunities  to  thus 
powerfully  aid  science  in  such  work.  Whalemen  should  be  en- 
couraged by  some  means  to  systematically  capture  specimens 


388  CHAPTERS    ON    THE    NATURAL    HISTORY 

of  the  smaller  Cetaceans  when  the  opportunity  is  afforded  them, 
and  from  these  to  take  accurate  measurements  of  the  specimens 
at  the  time  of  capture.  Skeletons  could  also  be  made,  and 
viscera  placed  in  crude  spirits,  both  being  brought  home  and 
turned  over  to  the  proper  authorities  for  description.  And, 
when  it  so  happens  that  somebody  chances  to  be  on  board  wrho 
can  make  a  serviceable  sketch  of  the  animal,  this  essential  aid 
should  never  be  overlooked;  the  habits  of  whales  in  their  normal 
habitat  should  also  be  constantly  recorded,  and  particularly  as 
soon  after  the  observation  as  possible.  Lighthouse  keepers  and 
other  seashore  observers  can  effect  all  this,  and  much  more  be- 
sides, for  where  any  of  the  whale  tribe  are  driven  ashore  in  their 
vicinity,  they  can,  in  addition  to  what  is  suggested  above,  often 
be  enabled  to  take  a  good  series  of  photographs  of  the  specimen, 
as  well  as  a  very  complete  set  of  measurements.  When  within  a 
reasonable  distance  of  Washington,  they  can,  too,  immediately 
send  a  telegram  to  Mr.  F.  W.  True,  Executive  Curator  of  the  U. 
S.  National  Museum,  that  such  and  such  suspicious  looking 
specimens  have  gone  ashore  at  such  and  such  a  point,  thus  giving 
the  proper  authorities  the  opportunity  to  dispatch  a  responsible 
person  to  the  spot  should  they  desire  to  do  so.  There  are  un- 
doubtedly a  number  of  the  smaller  species  of  Cetaceans  in  our 
waters  as  yet  undescribed.* 

From  the  consideration  of  the  Whales  we  may  pass  to  an  en- 
tirely distinct  order  of  large  aquatic  mammals,  that  by  nature 
are  partly  amphibious.  I  refer  to  the  Manatees  of  the  Order 
Sirenia  (Sea  Cows),  including  the  family  Trichecliidce,  which 
contains  two  forms  or  species,  namely  the  South  American  Man- 
atee (TrichecJim  manatus,  Linne")  and  the  Florida  Manatee  (T. 
Intirostris,  Harlan),  True. 

My  personal  knowledge  of  the  Manatees  is  principally  based 
upon  having  carefully  studied  the  skeletons  and  other  material 
afforded  by  the  Museums,  and  having  seen  a  live  one  once  on  the 
west  coast  of  Florida,  and  another,  some  twenty-seven  or  eight 
years  ago,  about  half  a  mile  up  the  Coatzacoalcos  Kiver  on  the 

*  Those  of  my  readers  desiring  to  further  inform  themselves  upon  the  subject  which  of  necessity  I 
have  been  compelled  to  deal  with  so  briefly  in  this  chapter,  can  do  no  better  than  consult  some  of  the 
following  works : 

Bibliography  of  Cetacea:  D.  F.  Eschricht.  "  Untersuchungen  ttber  die  Nordischen  Wallthiere."  1849. 
"  OsWographie  des  '  "e'tace's,"  by  P.  J  Van  Beneden  and  P.  Gervais.  18H8-79.  C.  M.  Scammon,  "Marine 
Mammals  of  the  N  W.  Coast  of  North  America."  1874.  For  the  structure  of  whalebone,  see  Hunter. 
14  Observations  on  the  Structure  and  Economy  of  Whales,"  Phil.  Trans.,  1787  ;  Eschricht  and  Rhein- 
hardt.  "On  the  Greedland  Right  Whale."  English  translation  by  the  Ray  Society.  186G.  pp.  07-78  ;  and 
Sir  W.  Turner,  in  Trans.  Roy.  Soc.  Edin..  1870,  Thomas  Beale ;  "  Natural  History  of  the  Sperm 
Whale,"  London,  1836,  Andrew  Murray  ;  "The  Geographical  Distribution  of  Mammals,"  London,  isr.c,. 
p.  212.  T.N.Gill;  "  Sperm- Whales,  Giant  and  Pigmy,"  Amer  Nat.  iv.  p  738,  fig.  167.  C  apt.  David 
Gray  ;  Land  and  Water,  Dec.  1,  '77,  p.  4fi8,  and  many  other  special  monographs. 


OF    THE    UNITED    STATES  391 

Isthmus  of  Tehuantepec,  southern  Mexico.  This  last  one  I  saw 
from  the  deck  of  a  steamer,  and  I  remember  very  well  that  it  was 
in  shallow  water,  and  that  it  had  drawn  itself  partly  out  on  the 
muddy  ooze  of  the  bank,  so  that  its  form  was  very  fairly  exposed 
to  my  view. 

Nevertheless  I  am  quite  familiar  with  this  Order  of  Mammals, 
and  it  will  be  my  aim  here  to  review  some  of  the  more  important 
parts  of  the  history  of  them  so  far  as  it  is  at  present  known  to 
naturalists. 

Geology  goes  to  show  that  the  early  Pliocene  and  Miocene  seas 
of  Europe  swarmed  with  several  species  of  animals,  which  zo- 
ologists have  good  reason  to  believe  were  the  latter  extinct  an- 
cestors of  existing  Sirenians  (Halitherium).  But  the  intermedi- 
ate forms  which  connected  our  living  types,  such  as  the  Manatee, 
with  the  ancient  ones,  to  which  I  refer,  have  not  as  yet  been  dis- 
covered. Zoologists  have  also  held,  and  I  think  it  is  very  proba- 
ble too,  that  the  Manatees  and  their  kind  are  in  some  way  related 
links,  remotely  affined  to  the  Cetaceans  on  the  one  hand,  and  the 
Ungulata  on  the  other;  but  even  of  this  kinship  the  evidence  is 
as  yet  not  satisfactorily  demonstrated.  Various  other  extinct 
sirenian  species  have  received  different  names  at  the  hands  of 
paleontologists,  but  it  is  not  our  object  to  further  pursue  this  part 
of  the  subject  here;  one  form,  however,  recently  exterminated, 
fully  deserves  a  word  of  passing  notice,  and  I  have  reference  of 
course  to  the  Northern  Sea-cow  (Rhytina  stelleri) . 

Of  it,  Professor  Flower  has  said,  "  Only  one  species  of  this 
genus  is  known,  R.  stelleri,  the  Northern  Sea-cow,  by  far  the 
largest  animal  of  the  order,  attaining  the  length  of  20  to  25  ft.  It 
was  formerly  an  inhabitant  of  the  shores  of  two  small  islands  in 
the  North  Pacific,  Behring's  and  the  adjacent  Copper  Island,  on 
the  former  of  which  it  was  discovered  by  the  ill-fated  navigator 
whose  name  the  island  bears,  when,  with  his  accomplished  com- 
panion, the  German  naturalist,  Steller,  he  was  wrecked  upon  it 
in  1741.  Twenty-seven  years  afterward  (1768),  as  is  commonly 
supposed,  the  last  of  the  race  was  killed,  and  its  very  existence 
would  have  been  unknown  to  science  but  for  the  interesting  ac- 
count of  its  anatomy  and  habits  left  by  Steller,  and  the  few  more 
or  less  perfect  skeletons  which  have  recently  rewarded  the  re- 
searches carried  on  in  the  frozen  soil  of  the  islands  around 
which  it  dwrelt.  There  is  no  evidence  at  present  of  its  having  in- 
habited any  other  coasts  than  those  of  the  islands  just  named, 


392 


CHAPTERS    ON    THE    NATURAL    HISTORY 


though  it  can  hardly  be  supposed  that  its  range  was  always  so 
restricted.  When  first  discovered  it  was  extremely  numerous  in 
the  shallow  bays  round  Behring's  Island,  finding  abundant  nutri- 
ment in  the  large  laminarisp  growing  in  the  sea.  Its  extirpation 


102. 


104. 

FIG.  102.     SKULL  OF  AFRICAN  MANATEE  (Manatus  Senegal  ensis). 

Xl-5.    (After  Flower). 

FIG.  103.     THE  FRONT  VIEW  OF  THE  HEAD  OF  THE  AMERICAN 

MANATEE. 

Showing  the  eyes,  nostrils  and  mouth,  and  with  the  lobes  of  the  upper  lip  divaricated. 

FIG.  104.     THE  SAME. 

With  the  lip  contracted.    (After  Flower,  from  Murie.)    These  figures  all  copied  by  the  Author. 

is  entirely  due  to  the  Russian  hunters  and  traders  who  followed 
upon  the  track  of  the  explorers,  and  who,  upon  Steller's  sugges- 
tion, lived  upon  the  flesh  of  the  great  Sea-cows.  Its  restricted 
distribution,  large  size,  inactive  habits,  fearlessness  of  man,  and 
even  its  affectionate  disposition  toward  its  own  kind  when 


OF    THE    UNITED    STATES  393 

wounded  or  in  distress,  all  contributed  to  accelerate  its  final  ex- 
tinction." 

Professor  Nordenskjold  has  claimed  and  in  the  writer's  opin- 
ion upon  too  insufficient  evidence,  that  living  specimens  of  this 
sirenian  were  known  to  exist  in  the  locality  above  referred  to  as 
late  as  the  year  1854.  This  matter  has  been  more  carefully  exam- 
ined into  by  Dr.  Stejneger,  who  it  would  seem  has  very  success- 
fully refuted  this  erroneous  notion. 

We  now  pass  to  the  existing  types  of  these  interesting  animals, 
and  find  that  there  are  but  two  genera  of  them,  viz.:  Halicore 
and  Manatus  (or  Trichechus  of  other  authors,  and  as  given  above), 
the  first  contains  the  famous  Dugongs,  sirenians  very  distinct  in 
their  structure  from  our  Manatees,  but  as  they  are  denizens  of 
"the  shallow  bays  and  creeks  of  the  Ked  Sea,  east  coast  of  Africa, 
Ceylon,  islands  of  the  bay  of  Bengal  and  the  Indo-Malayan  Archi- 
pelago, ranging  from  Barrow  Reefs  on  the  west  to  Moreton  Bay 
on  the  east/'  they  cannot  roperly  claim  our  time  and  space  here, 
as  interesting  as  they  are  in  many  particulars.  Even  our  own 
Manatee  has  a  closely  related  African  cousin  (M.  senegalensis), 
and  of  which  form  I  have  given  a  view  of  the  skull  in  the  present 
chapter  (Fig.  102),  as  I  had  not  one  of  the  American  ones  at  my 
hand. 

There  are  two  species  of  American  Manatees,  but  only  one  of 
these  belong  to  our  United  States  fauna,  the  Florida  manatee,  a 
form  that,  so  far  as  this  country  is  concerned,  is  now  confined 
to  the  coasts  of  the  peninsula  from  which  it  takes  its  name.  Ow- 
ing to  the  fact  that  most  of  the  specimens  of  Manatees  that  have 
reached  Europe  are  the  South  American  animals,  and  further, 
as  it  was  very  natural  that  they  should  figure  that  form  in  the 
"  Transactions,"  this  will  account  for  my  presenting  here  a  group 
of  those  animals  in  lieu  of  our  own  species;  however,  when  re- 
duced to  this  small  size  they  are  hardly  distinguishable  in  the 
drawing  which  illustrates  the  present  chapter. 

Manatees  are  enabled  to  use  the  paddles  formed  by  their 
forearms  with  considerable  facility,  and  this  is  undoubtedly  the 
way  in  which  they  originally  came  by  their  name,  it  being  derived 
from  the  Latin  word  for  hand.  Manatus,  moreover,  is  the  tech- 
nical name  applied  by  some  zoologists  to  the  genus  that  has  been 
created  to  contain  them.  According  to  True,  Mr.  W.  A.  Conklin, 
director  of  the  Central  Park  menagerie,  in  New  York  city,  gives 
the  following  dimensions  of  a  specimen  kept  alive  in  that  estab- 


394  CHAPTERS    ON    THE    NATURAL    HISTORY 

lishiuent  in  1873,  these  being  the  only  reliable  measurements  of 
a  Florida  Manatee,  under  its  proper  name,  on  record :  "  Length, 
6  ft.  9£  in.;  circumference  around  the  body,  4  ft.  9  in.;  length  of 
Hipper,  1  ft.;  width  of  same,  4J  in.;  width  of  tail  joining  body,  1 
ft.  6J  in.;  greatest  width  of  tail,  1  ft.  8J  in.;  weight,  450  Ibs.  It  is 
very  likely,  however,  that  the  animal  may  attain  to  a  length  of  at 
least  8  or  9  ft.,  as  trustworthy  authorities  so  state,  in  which  case 
they  would  come  to  weigh  something  between  five  and  six  hun- 
dred pounds. 

The  figures  here  given  so  thoroughly  portray  the  general  form 
of  the  Manatee,  that  it  hardly  seems  necessary  to  enter  upon  any 
very  extended  description  in  this  place ;  we  are  to  especially  note, 
however,  the  fish-like  form  of  the  body,  terminating  behind  in  the 
broad,  somewhat  rounded  and  horizontal  tail;  the  constricted 
neck  connecting  this  body  with  a  rather  small,  oblong  head ;  the 
complete  absence  of  hind  limbs,  with  the  fingerless  paddlelike 
forelimbs,  the  latter  tipped  on  either  side  with  three  small  nails; 
the  total  absence  of  all  fins;  the  wonderful  minute  eyes  and  ears, 
the  latter  being  without  any  external  pinna;  the  great  tumid 
upper  lips  overarching  rather  a  large  mouth,  the  former  having  a 
sparse  growth  of  stiff  bristles  growing  upon  them;  the  wrinkled 
skin,  which  is  of  rather  a  deep  gray  color,  and  having  a  few  scat- 
tered hairs  growing  over  it  in  some  specimens,  more  especially  in 
the  younger  individuals.  But  of  all  the  external  characters  of  a 
Manatee  none  are  so  noteworthy  as  the  fleshy  pads,  one  on  either 
side,  that  go  to  form  the  extraordinary  upper  lip.  Professor 
Garrod  in  alluding  to  these,  says  of  them  that,  "  These  pads  have 
the  power  of  transversely  approaching  toward  and  receding  from 
one  another  simultaneously  (see  Figs.  103  and  104).  When  the 
animal  is  on  the  point  of  seizing,  say,  a  leaf  of  lettuce,  the  pads 
are  diverged  transversely  in  such  a  way  as  to  make  a  median  gap 
of  considerable  breadth.  Directly  the  leaf  is  within  the  grasp 
the  lip-pads  are  approximated,  the  leaf  is  firmly  seized  between 
their  contiguous  bristly  surfaces,  and  then  drawn  inward  by  a 
backward  movement  of  the  lower  margin  of  the  lip  as  a  whole." 

It  is  said  that  Manatees  have  the  power  of  carrying  their  young 
about  within  the  grasp  of  their  forelimb  or  limbs,  and  that  their 
appearance  at  these  times  has  given  rise  to  the  fabulous  mermaid 
of  nursery  tale  renown,  but  so  far  as  the  writer  is  concerned,  if 
these  mythical  maids  of  the  sea,  which  so  often  filled  my  dream- 
head  in  boyish  days,  or  my  fanciful  reveries  of  perhaps  riper 


OF  THE  UNITED  STATES  397 

years,  bore  any  resemblance  to  the  beauty  that  sits  up  on  the  tip 
of  her  tail  in  the  group  herewith  presented,  I  beg  to  be  excused 
an  introduction.  Certain  it  is,  however,  that  these  animals  can 
make  considerable  use  of  these  paddles  of  theirs,  for  with  them 
they  assist  in  tucking  their  food  into  their  mouths,  and  in  moving 
about  on  the  bottom  of  the  river  or  lagoon  where  they  may  be 
feeding,  they  use  them  in  conjunction  with  the  tail,  in  assisting 
their  locomotory  acts. 

Manatees  avoid  getting  into  the  open  sea,  but  habitually  re- 
sort to  the  shallower  waters  of  rivers,  bays,  and  lagoons,  where 
they  move  sluggishly  about  on  the  bottom,  browsing  much  in  the 
same  way  that  the  terrestrial  herbivora  do  upon  land,  their  food 
consisting  exclusively  of  the  aquatic  plants  which  so  abundantly 
grow  in  such  situations.  In  quiet  weather,  they  sometimes  seem 
to  enjoy  getting  into  deep  water,  where  by  the  assistance  of 
their  lungs,  they  are  permitted  to  float  at  the  surface,  which  they 
do  arching  their  body  in  a  peculiar  manner.  Indeed,  their  lungs 
seem  to  act  very  much  in  the  same  manner  as  the  swim-bladder 
of  fishes  is  known  to  operate,  and  while  Manatees  are  feeding 
they  may  be  seen  to  rise  every  few  minutes  to  the  surface  to 
breathe,  but  instances  of  their  getting  completely  out  on  the  land 
remain  yet  to  be  proved,  and  when  placed  there,  their  acts  are  in 
the  extreme  most  awkward.  So  far  as  their  senses  are  concerned 
these  creatures  have  fair  eyesight,  acute  powers  of  hearing,  and 
the  other  powers  probably  well  developed.  They  are  not  known 
to  be  possessed  of  the  ability  of  emitting  any  voice-sound.  They 
seem  to  bear  captivity  well,  and  living  specimens  have  been  stud- 
ied with  great  interest  and  advantage  at  the  Zoological  Gardens 
of  London,  where  they  have  been  successfully  kept.  In  behavior, 
they  always  seem  to  be  gentle  and  inoffensive,  exhibiting  on  all 
occasions  great  concern  and  affection  for  their  young.  Indeed, 
man  has  proved  to  be  their  greatest  enemy,  and  they  are  forever 
pursued  and  captured  for  their  flesh  and  skin  and  the  oil  which 
they  yield.  Thus  it  is  that  Manatees  are  on  the  road  to  extinc- 
tion, which,  everything  considered,  in  time  is  sure  to  come  about. 
The  methods  of  capturing  the  Manatee  are  many:  (1)  they  may  be 
shot  as  they  rise  to  the  surface  to  breathe,  an  operation  that  re- 
quires great  skill  and  quickness;  (2)  they  are  taken  in  some  lo- 
calities by  means  of  an  ingenious  kind  of  net ;  (3)  finally,  they  are 
captured  by  the  various  modes  of  spearing  and  the  use  of  the  har- 
poon. 


398  CHAPTERS    ON    THE    NATURAL    HISTORY 

So  far  as  the  breeding  habits  of  the  Manatee  are  concerned,  but 
little  or  nothing  is  known;  the  best  authorities  have  it  that  the 
period  of  gestation  lasts  eleven  months,  and  the  young  follow 
their  mother  about  for  six  months  or  perhaps  longer.  It  is  a 
well  known  fact,  of  course,  that  the  dam  suckles  her  young  at 
her  breasts,  there  being  two  mamma?,  which  are  post-axillary  in 
position. 

In  concluding,  it  gives  me  pleasure  to  state  that  in  my  account 
of  this  animal,  I  have  been  much  assisted  through  my  perusal  of 
True's  history  of  it  in  that  admirable  work,  published  by  the 
United  States  Commission  of  Fish  and  Fisheries,  entitled  "  The 
Fisheries  and  Fishery  Industries  of  the  United  States."  Mr. 
True  in  closing  his  article  in  that  work,  says,  "  In  the  Manatee,, 
then,  we  have  an  animal  of  great  size,  of  gentle  disposition  and 
apparently  of  rapid  growth,  which  lives  in  places  readily  accessi- 
ble to  man,  and  is  easily  captured,  and  which  furnishes  meat 
which  is  not  inferior,  oil  which  is  remarkably  fine,  and  leather 
which  possesses  great  toughness.  From  these  considerations  it 
would  seem  evident  that,  with  the  proper  protection,  it  would 
furnish  no  small  revenue  to  the  people  in  those  portions  of  our 
country  which  it  inhabits,  for  centuries  to  come  "  (p.  128). 

Finally,  to  those  interested  in  the  progress  of  science  in  Flor- 
ida, I  should  say  that  we  have  not  as  yet  by  any  means  a  com- 
plete history  of  this  animal,  and  accurate  reports  upon  the  fol- 
lowing subjects  are  very  much  to  be  desired:  (1)  an  accurate  ob- 
servation giving  all  the  circumstances  of  a  Manatee  voluntarily 
coming  ashore  to  feed  or  for  any  other  purpose;  (2)  the  manner 
of  coition,  the  period  of  gestation,  the  mode  of  delivery,  the  num- 
ber of  calves  at  a  birth,  how  the  latter  are  suckled,  their  size  and 
appearance,  and  how  long  they  remain  with  their  dam,  and  (3)  a 
great  deal  of  their  structure  and  anatomy,  are  all  subjects  almost 
unknown  to  us. 


CHAPTER  XXVI. 

THE  FLYING  SQUIRREL  AND  ITS   RELATIVES. 

(Family  Sciuridw.) 

QUIRRELS,  the  world  over,  constitute  a  very  large 
group  of  mammals  that  naturalists  associate  together 
in  the  family  Sciuridw,  it  being  one  of  the  principal 
families  of  the  order  Rodentia.  In  North  America  the 
Sciuridw  are  chiefly  represented  by  the  marmots,  the  chipmunks, 
the  spermophiles,  the  squirrels,  and  the  flying  squirrels.  In  this 
country  we  have  at  least  two  well-marked  forms  of  the  last- 
named  species;  namely,  the  Northern  flying  squirrel  (S.  v.  hud- 
sonius),  and  the  Southern  flying  squirrel  (S.  v.  volucella),  the  for- 
mer inhabiting  the  upper  part  of  California  and  northward 
through  the  Pacific  regions  to  the  Rockies,  while  the  latter  va- 
riety occurs  in  all  suitable  localities  over  the  United  States, 
except  where  hudsonius  is  found.  It  also  ranges  through  Mexico 
and  Guatemala. 

Occasionally,  in  the  old  works  upon  the  natural  history  of 
these  animals,  we  find  the  American  flying  squirrels  called  Assa- 
pans,  the  origin  of  which  term  has  just  now  escaped  me.  There 
are  also  animals  in  eastern  Asia  that  have  been  called  Tayu<nix, 
but  they  are  flying  marmots  of  the  genus  Pteromys,  allied  to  the 
squirrels.  Both  possess  lateral  dermal  expansions,  by  means  of 
which  they  can  for  certain  distances  sail  through  the  air,  upon 
launching  themselves  into  it  from  some  elevated  position. 

Anatomically,  our  little  flying  squirrels  very  closely  resemble 
the  typical  members  of  the  genus  Sciurus;  their  large,  full  eyes, 
certain  dental  differences,  and  the  possession  of  the  dermal  para- 
chute being  evident  distinctive  differences.  Flying  squirrels  are 
also  of  small  size.  Sciurus  volans,  of  Linnaeus,  is  the  flying  squir- 
rel of  Europe,  popularly  called  the  Minene  in  some  quarters, 
and  the  King  of  the  Squirrels  (Konig  der  Grauwerke)  by  the  Ger- 
mans. In  many  of  its  habits  it  is  said  to  agree  with  our  Sciurop- 
terus,  but  is  more  solitary  in  disposition. 

Around  my  present  home  the  little  flying  squirrels  are  quite 
plentiful,  and  they  have  taken  to  living  under  the  eaves  and  in 
the  water  pipes  of  the  house,  and  not  long  ago  a  very  beautiful 
little  specimen  came  into  the  kitchen  one  morning,  where  he  was 


400  CHAPTERS    ON    THE    NATURAL    HISTORY 

captured  by  the  cook,  and  is  now  kept  by  me  in  a  small  cage  I 
constructed  for  his  occupancy.  About  a  week  after  I  had  him  I 
succeeded  in  getting  some  good  photographic  pictures  of  his 
squirrelship,  and  one  of  the  best  of  these  has  been  reproduced  to 
illustrate  this  chapter. 

They  make  extremely  engaging  pets,  being  gentle,  soft,  and 
fluffy,  with  many  curious  little  habits,  and  withal,  stand  among 
mammals  as  the  prettiest  forms  we  know  anything  of.  His  silky 
coat  is  brownish-ash  above,  pure  white  beneath,  with  a  black 
emargination  above  the  lateral  edge  of  the  dermal  expansion 
upon  either  side.  No  tuffs  ornament  the  ears,  as  in  some  squir- 
rels, and  his  head  is  short  and  rounded,  with  the  face  lacking  in 
that  acuteness  seen  in  some  members  of  the  tribe.  As  I  have  said 
above,  his  eyes  are  very  prominent  and  black,  while  the  tail  is 
soft,  flat,  and  distichous.  They  vary  considerably  in  coloration, 
some  being  much  darker  than  others ;  some  are  very  light  indeed. 

Where  the  conditions  are  favorable  for  them,  these  squirrels 
become  very  numerous;  but  being  chiefly  nocturnal  in  their 
habits,  are  rarely  seen  in  the  daytime  by  any  one.  Hollows  of 
trees  are  the  favorite  places  for  them  to  nestle  in  and  slumber 
away  the  hours  of  daylight,  but  other  convenient  excavations  or 
crevices  wrill  be  often  utilized  by  them.  They  are  very  fond  of 
Indian  corn;  nuts,  apples,  and  other  fruits;  seeds,  and,  agreeing 
with  most  other  rodents,  will  eat  raw  meat  with  avidity  when- 
ever they  get  a  chance. 

They  produce  from  three  to  a  half  dozen  young  to  the  litter, 
usually  breeding  once  in  the  north  during  the  season,  but  fre- 
quently as  many  as  three  times  in  the  extreme  south.  Gestation 
is  of  about  a  month's  duration.  Extreme  solicitation  is  exper- 
ienced for  the  young  by  the  parents,  and  the  old  one  will  often 
carry  a  squirrelet  back  into  the  nest  should  it  from  any  cause 
have  tumbled  out.  At  evening  time,  and  during  most  of  the 
night,  these  little  animals  are  wonderfully  active  and  frolicsome. 

Many  years  ago  I  remember  having  once  passed  through  a 
stretch  of  forest  on  a  moonlight  night  that  I  had  frequently  trav- 
ersed during  the  daytime,  and  that  without  ever  having  sus- 
pected a  flying  squirrel's  presence  in  the  place;  but  now  dozens 
of  them  were  to  be  seen,  and  I  paused  for  a  long  time  to  study 
their  antics.  They  would  run  up  to  the  tops  of  the  trees,  then  out 
upon  the  extremities  of  the  branches,  from  whence  they  would 
leap  and  sail  out  into  the  open  space.  In  the  air  the  tail  is  held 


FIG    107,      THE   FLYING   SQUIRREL   (Sciuropterus  v.  voluceUa) 

From  a  photograph  from  life  by  the  Author.     Nearly  natural  size. 


OF    THE    UNITED    STATES  403 

in  the  same  plane  with  the  body,  while  the  latter  is  flattened  out, 
the  legs  are  extended,  and  the  lateral  dermal  sheets  put  upon  the 
stretch.  Forty  or  fifty  yards  are  sometimes  thus  passed  at  one 
flying  leap,  the  trajectory  being  a  gentle  curve — for  its  first  two- 
thirds  downward,  to  terminate  upon  an  upward  inclination  as 
the  animal  makes  a  graceful  landing  upon  the  place  for  which  it 
had  started.  This  is  usually  upon  the  trunk  of  another  tree,  or,  if 
convenient,  one  of  the  main  branches.  As  they  pass  through  the 
air  the  flight  is  even,  fairly  swift,  and  very  remarkable,  the  ani- 
mals appearing — as  they  pass  overhead  or  descend  near  you — 
like  little  square  pieces  of  white  pasteboard  sailing  through  the 
air,  much  after  the  fashion  that  certain  tricksters  flip  playing 
cards  for  extraordinary  distances,  the  curves  described  being 
quite  similar. 

Flying  squirrels  evidently  appear  to  enjoy  these  aerial  ex- 
ploits, for  they  will  pass  to  and  fro  between  the  same  two  trees 
a  number  of  times  in  succession,  running  up  to  the  top  of  one,  to 
leap  and  sail  over  to  the  other,  which  in  turn  is  ascended  only  to 
fly  back  to  the  one  they  had  just  quit.  When  traveling  in  num- 
bers through  the  forests,  however,  these  flights  get  them  over  the 
territory  traversed  in  very  short  order,  a  mile  or  more  being  made 
in  hardly  any  time  at  all. 

Flying  squirrels  have  but  little  to  dread  from  man;  but  that 
they  are  preyed  upon  by  owls,  weasels,  and  a  few  other  animals 
there  is  no  room  for  doubt;  and  probably  they  are  also  frequently 
destroyed  through  other  agencies,  or  else  they  would  so  vastly 
increase  that  their  number  would  soon  be  immense,  and  their 
existence  in  many  localities  be  made  far  more  evident. 

A  curious  instance  is  recorded  by  a  popular  writer  at  hand, 
"  in  which  a  brood  of  young  squirrels  of  this  species  were  kept  in 
confinement  for  some  months.  The  mother  suckled  her  young 
ones  by  clinging  with  her  forefeet  to  the  perch  of  the  cage,  let- 
ting her  body  hang  down,  while  the  little  ones  stood  on  their 
hind  legs  and  took  their  meal  from  her  breast.  This  brood  was 
procured  by  some  laborers,  who,  in  clearing  a  wood  by  setting  it 
on  fire,  saw  the  mother  carry  them  one  by  one  from  the  burning 
tree  to  a  place  of  safety.  When  they  took  her,  she  was  found  to 
be  singed.  This  good  and  devoted  mother  had  three  of  her  young 
ones  killed  by  the  rats,  which  got  into  the  cage  at  night,  and  she 
herself  had  one  of  her  thighs  broken  and  a  part  of  her  flesh  eaten 
from  her  body  to  the  bone,  yet  she  was  found  in  the  morning 
clinging  to  her  little  ones  and  trying  to  nurse  them !  " 


404  CHAPTERS    ON    THE    NATURAL    HISTORY 

In  the  fore  part  of  either  *k  wing,"  in  any  specimen  of  our  flying 
squirrels,  the  student  will  find  a  slender,  subosseous  splint  ex- 
tending from  the  wrist  into  the  interdernial  space  of  the  lateral 
extension,  or  "  wing,"  as  I  have  just  termed  it.  Arboreal  rodents 
of  the  family  Anomaluridw,  several  species  of  which  are  found  in 
West  Africa,  possess  an  homologous  splint,  but  it  articulates  at 
the  elbow  (the  olecranon)  instead  of  at  the  carpus,  or  wrist,  as 
in  Sciuropterus.  These  African  forms  (A  fulgens,  for  example) 
have  also  peculiar  scales  upon  the  under  side  of  the  fore  part  of 
the  tail  that  assist  them  in  climbing  and  alighting  upon  a  rough 
surface  after  flight. 

Some  of  the  large  East  Indian  species  of  flying  squirrels  are 
very  elegant  creatures,  the  fur  of  which  is  often  high  colored. 
Pteromys  nitidus,  for  instance,  is  larger  than  our  gray  squirrel, 
and  is  of  a  deep  chestnut  above,  while  its  nether  surface  is  of  a 
bright  red.  Others  show  various  shades  of  orange,  bay,  or  black. 
These  likewise  possess  the  splint  bone  in  their  dermal  para- 
chutes, serving  as  "  stretchers  "  or  "  auxiliary  extensors,"  when 
the  latter  are  spread  in  the  act  of  sailing  in  the  air.  We  have 
much  yet  to  learn  of  the  habits  of  these  Bornean,  Javanese,  and 
other  foreign  species,  and  as  for  the  details  of  their  anatomy  we 
are  even  still  less  informed  upon. 

In  the  Australian  region  there  is  another  group  of  animals 
that  possess  flying  membranes  as  in  our  flying  squirrels;  they 
are  representatives  of  the  three  genera,  Petaurus,  Belideus,  and 
Acrobata,  of  the  family  of  Phalangistidw,  or  Phalangers,  as  they 
are  called.  These  are  marsupial  forms  ranging  in  size  all  the  wray 
from  that  of  a  mouse  to  species  as  big  as  a  cat.  The  habits  and 
mode  of  life  of  these  peculiar  animals  are  extremely  interesting, 
and  well  deserving  of  the  study  of  the  natural  historian. 

Among  the  insectivora  we  also  find  a  flying  mammal ;  namely, 
the  two  species  called  the  "  flying  lemurs,"  a  name  given  to  the 
first  known  one  by  Linnseus.  They  constitute  the  family  Galeo- 
pitJiecidcF ;  the  Galeopithecus  volans  being  the  type  most  frequently 
seen  in  collections.  G.  philpinensis  is  the  other  species,  and  they 
both  occur  in  the  forests  of  the  Malay  peninsula,  Sumatra,  Bor- 
neo, and  the  Philippine  Islands.  By  the  natives  this  animal  is 
called  the  Kabung;  others  term  it  the  Colugo;  while  many  old 
works  on  natural  history  have  them  flying  lemurs,  flying  foxes, 
or  flying  cats. 

The  integumentary  parachute  in  them  is  even  far  more  exten- 


OF    THE    UNITED    STATES  405 

sive  than  it  is  in  our  little  flying  squirrels,  for  it  is  not  only  a 
lateral  extension,  but  interdigital  and  interfemoral  (as  in  bats) 
besides.  They  are  nocturnal,  too,  and  feed  upon  insects  and  the 
leaves  of  certain  trees.  It  is  capable  of  taking  immense  flights, 
has  but  a  single  young  one  at  a  time,  possesses  pectoral  mammae, 
as  in  bats,  and  has  some  very  remarkable  habits.  So,  from  what 
I  have  endeavored  to  present  above,  it  will  be  seen  that  our  mod- 
est little  flying  squirrels — apart  from  the  bats — are  not  the  only 
mammals  that  are  capable  of  flight  of  a  certain  kind,  for  they  are 
indeed  the  least  conspicuous,  perhaps,  among  the  forms  thus  en- 
dowed. 

Passing  once  more  to  a  brief  consideration  of  the  Kodentia  as 
a  whole,  it  is  to  be  observed  that  the  best  authorities  among 
modern  classifiers  of  mammals,  divide  the  order  into  two  sub- 
orders, viz.,  the  Simplicidentata,  and  the  Duplicidentata.  Both  of 
these  suborders  are  represented  in  the  fauna  of  the  United 
States;  the  first  containing  ten  families,  and  the  latter  but  two; 
—the  Sciuridw  being  the  first  family  of  the  Simplicidentata.  This 
family  contains,  in  addition  to  the  genus  of  flying  squirrels 
(Sciuropterus),  just  considered,  the  woodchucks  or  marmots 
(Arctomys) ;  the  chipmunks  (Tamias) ;  the  spermophiles  (Sper- 
mophilus)  ;  and  the  typical  arboreal  squirrels  (Sciurus). 

Of  the  Chipmunks  or  Ground  Squirrels  there  are  quite  a  num- 
ber of  species  and  subspecies  in  the  United  States,  and  these  are 
constantly  being  added  to  by  new  discoveries.  As  a  group,  they 
are  well-represented  by  our  common  eastern  Chipmunk,  familiar 
to  every  one  who  knows  anything  of  our  smaller  mammals  of  the 
Atlantic  States.  Some  of  the  other  forms  resemble  it  quite 
closely,  while  others  depart  more  or  less  from  it  in  the  matters 
of  size  and  coloration;  some  are  distributed  over  a  considerable 
geographical  area,  others  being  more  or  less  restricted  to  their 
ranges,  thus  offering  descriptive  zoologists  abundant  oppor- 
tunity to  describe  the  fine  intergrading  forms  as  new  subspecies, 
an  opportunity  that  has  been  fully  availed  of,  by  a  few  ambitious 
mammalogists  more  anxious  to  add  to  a  personal  reputation, 
than  to  be  of  any  special  use  or  aid  to  the  science  which  they 
pretend  to  advance. 

While  collecting  in  New  Mexico  during  the  80's  I  obtained 
numerous  specimens  of  the  Gila  chipmunk,  a  subspecies  wherein 
the  lateral  longitudinal  dorsal  stripes  are  almost  entirely  ab- 
sent (Fig.  108),  though  a  medium  one  is  quite  distinct. 


406  CHAPTERS    ON    THE    NATURAL    HISTORY 

These  various  species  of  Ground  squirrels  are  known  by  dif- 
ferent names  in  different  parts  of  the  country.  In  many  locali- 
ties the  people  call  them  Chipmunks,  or  Chipmucks;  elsewhere 
they  bear  the  name  of  Hackee;  while  in  the  eastern  part  of  the 
United  States  Chipping  squirrel  or  Striped  squirrel  is  occasion- 
ally applied  to  them.  They  very  rarely  ascend  trees  but  spend 
most  of  their  time  on  the  ground,  or  scampering  along  fence- 
rails,  over  stumps  and  rocks,  and  live  in  holes  in  the  ground, 
usually  among  the  gnarled  and  exposed  roots  of  some  big  tree 
or  other.  They  are  extremely  frolicsome,  and  often  exhibit  but 
little  fear  of  man's  approach,  though  as  domesticated  pets  they 
are  but  rarely  interesting.  In  nature  the  Chipmunks  have  many 
enemies,  thousands  of  them  being  annually  destroyed  by  the 
smaller  canivora,  as  well  as  by  hawks  and  owls.  In  fact  its  life 
is  one  of  continuous  peril  from  these  causes.  Many  are  shot  by 
juvenile  sportsmen,  be  it  said  to  their  shame,  for  the  harmless 
little  fellows  add  more  than  their  share  to  the  enlivenment  of 
our  forests  and  glens  by  their  merry  chippings  and  well-known 
gurgling  scoldings  common  to  so  many  of  the  smaller  squirrels. 
Says  a  popular  writer:  "  In  the  autumn  this  creature  may  be  seen 
around  the  fields  of  Indian  corn,  and  in  the  walnut  and  chestnut 
woods,  filling  his  ample  cheek-pouches,  and  carrying  off  his  store 
to  his  granaries.  His  hole  is  generally  placed  near  the  roots  of 
trees,  or  in  a  decayed  stump,  or  among  a  heap  of  rocks,  or  in  a 
bank  of  earth,  and  usually  near  the  forests  or  fields  from  which 
he  draws  his  supplies.  Sometimes  his  retreat  has  two  or  three 
openings;  it  usually  descends  almost  perpendicularly  at  first; 
then  it  rises  with  one  or  two  windings,  and  at  last,  at  the  distance 
of  eight  or  ten  feet,  terminates  in  a  chamber  lined  with  leaves, 
amid  which  the  animals  sleep.  Three  or  four  occupy  the  place  to 
gether.  There  are  several  side-galleries,  where  the  stores  of 
wheat,  buckwheat,  hazel-nuts,  acorns,  Indian  corn,  grass-seeds, 
walnuts  or  chestnuts,  according  to  the  productions  of  the  local- 
ity, are  deposited.  They  are  exceedingly  provident,  continuing  to 
add  to  their  supplies  till  forced  into  their  houses  by  the  inclem- 
ency of  the  weather.  Often  their  stores  are  much  beyond  the 
necessities  of  the  winter.  The  squirrels  hibernate  in  these  re- 
treats, and  become  somewhat  sluggish,  but  do  not  approach  the 
unconcious  torpidity  of  the  marmot.  The  young,  four  or  five  at  a 
birth,  are  produced  in  the  spring,  and  beautiful  little  creatures 
they  are  when  first  led  forth  by  the  mother." 


FIG.  108.     THE  GILA  CHIPMUNK. 

Adult  Male,  Life  Size. 


OF    THE    UNITED    STATES  409 

In  our  southern  districts,  where  the  winters  of  course  are  very 
mild,  these  little  animals  remain  out  the  entire  year  round,  but 
are  never  harmful  to  the  crops  of  man,  being  simply  gleaners 
rather  than  robbers  and  destroyers.  Other  forms  of  the  genus 
differ  but  little  in  habit  from  our  common  eastern  species,  and 
indeed,  even  their  relatives  in  various  parts  of  Europe,  Asia,  and 
eastern  Africa,  that  are  also  small  striped  ground-squirrels,  are 
very  similar  in  these  respects. 

Several  years  ago  when  writing  about  New  Mexican  squirrels 
(see  Fig.  108)  I  said:  Next,  to  form  our  acquaintance  with  the 
third  and  last  species  of  squirrel  which  occurs  in  this  region,  let 
us,  this  balmy  June  afternoon,  pick  our  way  through  the  fallen 
timber  and  masses  of  loose  rock  that  incumber  the  bottom  of  one 
of  the  vast  caiions  hereabouts.  In  such  a  place  you  seat  yourself 
for  a  moment  upon  one  of  the  rough  and  partly-imbedded  sand- 
stone boulders,  which  long  since  took  its  plunge  adown  the  canon 
side  to  its  present  resting  ground.  Here  you  will  be  obliged  to 
wait  patiently  for  some  ten  or  fifteen  minutes  in  perfect  quiet, 
when  in  all  probability  your  ears  will  then  be  saluted  by  a  not 
unpleasing  little  chirrup,  which  but  partly  reminds  you  of  a 
sound  often  heard  in  the  old,  familiar  woodlands  at  home. 

With  your  eyes  accustomed  to  peering  into  the  recesses  of  na- 
ture's material  that  goes  to  make  up  the  side  of  one  of  the  rugged 
canon  walls  in  this  part  of  the  country,  you  are  soon  enabled  to 
discover  the  presence  of  the  author  of  this  "  chip-chip,  chip  ree, 
r-ree,  r-reee,chip-r-r-rupp"  for  stealthily  issuing  from  his  hiding 
place  and  coming  over  a  broad  sandstone  slab  with  little  meas- 
ured steps  and  many  nervous  twitches  of  his  tail,  which  is  held 
almost  vertical,  you  behold  the  timid  little  Gila  chipmunk,  one  of 
the  most  interesting  representatives  of  an  exceedingly  interest- 
ing genus.  If  you  sit  perfectly  motionless,  another,  then  another 
will  now  soon  make  their  appearance  at  different  and  unexpected 
points,  until  fully  half  a  dozen  of  these  engaging  little  creatures 
may  be  in  sight  at  one  time.  But  upon  the  slightest  movement 
of  your  body,  off  they  all  scamper  to  the  weather  side  of  rock, 
root,  or  rubbish  pile.  You  are  not  inclined  to  wait,  however, 
another  quarter  of  an  hour,  or  perhaps  longer,  for  a  specimen, 
and  as  a  fine  male,  bolder  than  the  rest,  has  not  taken  part  in  the 
first  general  rush  of  the  stampede,  but  stands  displaying  the 
pretty  mixed  gray  of  his  back  and  the  bright,  though  dark,  fox 
color  of  the  under  side  of  his  handsome  tail,  you  awake  the  echo 


410  CHAPTERS    ON    THE    NATURAL    HISTORY 

of  the  place  as  you  fire  a  load  of  dust  shot  up  in  his  direction. 
He  is  yours  with  hardly  a  visible  mark  upon  him  to  indicate  the 
cause  of  his  so  suddenly  pitching  down  among  the  rocks,  a  Tam- 
ias  a.  dor  sails  stone  dead. 

This  chipmunk  is  a  very  different  appearing  little  animal  from 
his  more  handsome  congener  of  the  Eastern  States  (T.  striatus) . 
And  although  the  markings,  as  will  be  seen  in  the  figure,  are 
quite  distinct  upon  his  head,  the  broad,  diffuse  stripes  down  his 
back,  on  the  other  hand,  are  but  feebly  defined,  and  hardly  notice- 
able in  some  female  specimens.  He  is  of  a  dull  ocherish,  clay 
color  beneath,  and  a  brownish-gray  on  the  back,  while,  as  I  have 
already  said,  the  under  side  of  the  tail  is  a  reddish  chestnut 
shade,  that  extends  to  the  nether  aspect  of  the  flank,  on  either 
side,  where  it  merges  with  the  color  already  described  for  the 
lower  parts,  beyond.  In  March  here,  I  have  found  the  females  of 
this  species  heavy  with  young,  and  in  May  these  latter  are  fully 
two-thirds  the  size  of  the  adults.  So  I  am  inclined  to  think  that 
they  raise  two  litters  and  perhaps  three  in  a  single  season. 

Other  ground  squirrels  of  this  country  belong  to  the  genus 
Spermophilus,  one  rich  in  species  and  subspecies,  and  of  these  I 
have  written  not  a  little  in  other  places,  so  they  will  not  receive 
especial  attention  in  this  chapter. 

It  is  the  genus  Sciurus,  however,  that  contains  the  true  specific 
and  subspecific  forms  of  squirrels.  In  it  we  find  the  numerous 
kinds  of  Ked  squirrels  or  Chickarees;  the  Gray  squirrels;  Fox 
squirrels ;  Abert's  squirrel,  and  a  number  of  others. 

The  Red  squirrels  are  so  well  known  as  to  obviate  the  neces- 
sity of  any  detailed  description.  There  are  several  well-marked 
specific  and  subspecific  forms  of  them  in  the  United  States,  and 
doubtless  a  few  geographical  races  yet  remain  to  be  discovered 
and  described.  In  conversation  with  Mr.  Robert  Ridgway,  the 
distinguished  ornithologist,  a  short  time  since,  he  said  he  be- 
lieved that  the  Red  squirrel  was  one  of  the  very  worst  enemies 
that  the  small  birds  of  this  country  had  to  contend  against. 
They  not  only  destroy  nests,  but  they  will  also  suck  birds'  eggs 
and  devour  their  young.  Mr.  Ridgway  lives  at  his  country-seat 
very  near  the  city  of  Washington,  D.  C.,  and  every  spring  not  a 
few  of  the  more  abundant  birds,  such  as  robins,  catbirds,  vireos, 
and  the  like  breed  on  his  place.  He  noticed  that  the  nests  of 
these  species  were  often  destroyed,  and  in  the  absence  of  cats, 
crows,  weasels,  and  other  predacious  forms  he  could  not  account 


OF    THE    UNITED    STATES 

for  the  destruction  of  their  nests  and  eggs.  One  day,  however, 
the  various  robberies  of  the  kind  were  made  clear  by  discovering 
a  pair  of  Red  squirrels  in  such  a  position  that  it  left  no  doubt 
whatever  in  his  mind  but  what  they  were  the  authors  of  it.  He 
also  said  that  on  another  occasion,  in  Illinois,  he  knew  of  a  river 
that  had  greatly  overflowed  its  banks  for  a  long  time,  and 
through  this  inundation  many  large  trees  were  killed  on  the 
banks.  In  the  trunks  of  these,  numerous  woodpeckers  had  made 
nest-holes  which  had  subsequently  been  abandoned,  and  in  them 
a  colony  of  Purple  Grackles  had  built.  One  day  while  collecting 
in  the  vicinity  he  noticed  a  big  Fox  squirrel  coming  out  of  one 
of  the  holes  in  one  of  these  trees  with  a  young  Grackle  in  its 
mouth,  and  there  is  no  question  but  what  the  animal  made  a  meal 
of  its  capture. 

In  my  opinion  all  of  the  rodents  in  this  country,  and  doubtless 
elsewhere,  are  flesh-eaters,  and  will  eat  raw  meat  whenever  the 
opportunity  offers.  A  number  of  years  ago  in  New  Mexico,  I  had 
as  pets  a  litter  of  Prairie  marmots,  which  as  they  grew  older  I 
accidently  discovered  were  extremely  fond  of  raw  beef,  and 
would  eat  it  in  preference  to  any  other  kind  of  food.  It  is  a  well- 
known  fact  of  course  that  rats  and  mice  (domesticated  rodents), 
will  consume  meat  uncooked  whenever  they  get  the  chance  to 
do  so.  Muskrats  eat  mussels  (Unios),  and  the  male  of  tame  rab- 
bits will  eat  their  own  progeny. 

Gray  squirrels  are  considered  to  be  by  sportsmen  legitimate 
game,  and  much  has  been  written  about  their  habits  and  the 
hunting  of  them.  There  is  a  black  variety  of  this  species,  as  well 
as  several  subspecific  forms  of  it.  Albinos  are  also  occasionally 
met  with;  I  saw  a  beautiful  example  of  one  of  these  latter  col- 
lected a  good  many  years  ago  in  the  Catskill  Mountains  of  New 
York  State.  There  is  a  northern  and  southern  variety  (Sciurus 
carolinensis  leucotis  and  S.  c.  carolinensis).  "The  most  remark- 
able feature  in  this  species  of  squirrel,"  says  a  popular  writer, 
"  is  its  occasional  migrations,  in  great  multitudes,  over  moun- 
tains and  streams,  across  cleared  fields  and  dense  woods,  seeming 
to  be  guided  by  some  necessity  as  to  food,  or  some  imperious  but 
inscrutable  instinct."  Marvelous  accounts  of  these  migrations 
have  been  given  us  by  those  who  have  had  the  good  fortune  to 
witness  one  of  them.  Lapland  Lemmings  perform  similar  migra- 
tions, and  the  reason  for  them  may  be  an  inherited  impulse  dat- 
ing back  perhaps  to  the  fluctuations  of  climate  during  the  glac- 
ial epoch. 


412 


CHAPTERS    ON    THE    NATURAL    HISTORY 


In  New  Mexico,  I  had  abundant  opportunity  to  study  in  nature 
those  elegant  forms  of  United  States  Sciuridw,  the  Arizona  and 
Abert's  Squirrels.  The  latter,  as  to  the  entire  upper  parts,  are  of 
a  grizzly  iron  gray.  Lower  halves  of  inner  aspects  of  ear-tufts, 
and  a  median  broad  stripe  from  shoulders  to  near  root  of  tail,  of 


FIG.  109.     LIFE-SIZE  HEAD  OF  A  SPECIMEN  OF  ABERT'S  SQUIRREL. 

Adult  Female. 

a  brilliant  chestnut.  Ear-tufts  large,  composed  of  straight  black 
hairs.  Entire  under  parts,  borders  of  tail,  circumocular  stripe, 
and  upper  sides  of  feet,  pure  white.  A  rather  broad  dividing  line 
at  either  side,  between  white  of  under  parts  and  gray  above, 


OF    THE    UNITED    STATES  413 

jetty  black.  Central  hairs  of  tail  for  its  entire  length,  also  black, 
forming  a  mid-third  stripe  down  the  member.  Claws,  horn-color 
and  curved.  Whiskers  composed  of  six  to  ten  black  stiff  hairs. 
(See  Fig.  109.) 

There  is  a  splendid  black  phase  or  variety  of  this  squirrel 
which  is  also  said  to  occur  in  that  region,  but  I  never  had  the 
fortune  to  meet  with  one.  However,  I  have  seen  very  dark  gray 
ones  which  are  really  wonderfully  handsome  animals,  as  the 
white  parts  in  them  are  generally  purer,  and  the  specimens  im- 
proved by  the  contrast  in  the  colors,  which  of  course  is  still  more 
decided  when  they  are  only  snowy  white  and  jetty  black,  which 
is  said  to  be  the  case  in  the  varieties. 

They  say  that  the  California  gray  squirrel  (8.  fossor)  is  even 
a  handsomer  animal  than  Abert's,  but  never  having  collected  the 
former  it  becomes  impossible  for  me  to  express  an  opinion  upon 
this  point,  though  it  is  hard  to  believe  that  anything  in  the  shape 
of  a  squirrel  could  surpass  the  present  species  in  its  spirited  as- 
pect, its  grace  and  beauty,  and  then,  too,  it  is  one  of  our  largest 
varieties,  which  also  adds  to  its  otherwise  fine  appearance. 

Abert's  squirrel  is  fairly  abundant  in  the  high  pines  which  oc- 
cur upon  the  mountain-sides,  principally  to  the  northward  and 
eastward  of  Fort  Wingate,  New  Mexico,  and  they  have  been  fre- 
quently taken  within  a  mile  of  the  station.  A  good  hunter  once 
told  me  that  he  shot  nine  of  them  in  two  days,  all  within  five 
miles  of  this  locality,  and  only  hunted  for  them  a  few  hours  each 
day. 

The  animal  is  essentially  a  tree  lover,  and  rarely  spends  any 
length  of  time  upon  the  ground.  If  you  suddenly  surprise  one  in 
the  forest,  it  immediately  seeks  the  nearest  and  largest  pine  tree 
within  its  reach  by  a  series  of  very  active  jumps  and  skips,  to  as- 
cend it  with  great  rapidity  to  the  first  branches,  where  it  often 
stops  to  take  a  glance  at  the  intruder,  thereby  frequently  afford- 
ing the  gunner  a  capital  opportunity  to  bag  the  specimen. 

Now  of  the  Arizona  squirrel  I  have  collected  a  number  of  speci- 
mens during  my  stay  in  those  parts,  and  it  is  not  infrequently 
seen  within  the  immediate  precincts  of  the  station.  In  appear- 
ance it  far  more  reminds  one  of  our  favorite  gray  squirrel  of  the 
East.  It  lacks  the  ear-tufts,  and  differs  markedly  from  the  com- 
mon gray  squirrel  in  being  more  of  a  grizzly  color  above,  and  a 
mixed  tawny  one  beneath.  As  to  its  comparative  size  I  cannot 
speak  with  certainty,  although  I  am  inclined  to  believe,  from 


414  CHAPTERS    ON    THE    NATURAL    HISTORY 

recollection  only,  that  it  is  rather  smaller  than  the  average  gray 
squirrel  of  the  Eastern  States.  It  likewise  has  a  broadish  chest- 
nut band  rather  than  a  stripe,  down  its  dorsal  aspect,  between 
neck  and  root  of  tail.  This  latter  coloration  is  but  feebly  marked 
sometimes,  when  a  glance  at  the  animal  leaves  the  impression 
upon  one's  mind  that  it  is  of  an  ocherish  color  all  over. 

Unlike  Abert's,  the  Arizona  squirrel  is  rather  partial  to  the 
crests  and  side-walls  of  the  great  canons  of  that  country,  and  is 
very  much  of  a  ground  squirrel,  rarely  resorting  to  the  trees  when 
surprised  by  the  hunter.  Indeed,  in  recalling  my  captures  of 
him,  I  fail  to  recollect  an  instance  of  ever  having  seen  more  than 
one  in  a  tree,  while  on  the  other  hand,  I  have  frequently  shot 
them  as  they  skipped  ahead  of  me  on  the  ground,  or  clambered 
up  the  canon-wall  above  me.  My  observations,  too,  incline  me 
to  suspect  that  this  squirrel  always  rears  its  young  in  a  hole, 
often  dug  in  the  side  of  a  clay  bank,  or  some  similar  locality; 
whereas  I  suspect  the  nest  of  the  Abert's  squirrel  is  placed  up 
among  the  pine  boughs,  as  is  the  habit  of  our  gray  one.  In 
fact  I  have  observed  nests  in  the  pine  trees  here,  which  I  have 
taken  to  be  the  habitations  constructed  by  Sciurus  aberti,  as  they 
were  evidently  the  handiwork  of  some  representative  of  that 
genus  of  animals. 


CHAPTER   XXVII. 

THE  DEER  MOUSE,  WITH  NOTES  ON  OTHER  RODENTS. 

(Peromyscus  leucopus:  Rodentia.) 

EW  of  the  smaller  mammals  of  this  country  are  better- 
known  to  the  frequenter  of  our  fields  and  forests  than 
the  common  little  White-footed  mouse.  This  very 
pretty  little  rodent  is  likewise  known  in  various  locali- 
ties by  the  name  of  the  Deer  mouse  or  sometimes  as  the 
Field  mouse.  It  has  all  over  the  world  a  perfect  host  of 
relatives,  both  near  and  remote,  and  even  in  the  United 
States  alone  the  number  of  species  of  ferine  mice  are  many, 
not  a  few  of  which  belong  to  the  same  genus  that  contains 
our  present  subject.  It  has  only  been  within  comparatively 
recent  years,  however,  that  many  of  the  types  and  forms  of 
our  mammals  of  the  size  of  a  Deer  mouse  have  come  to  the 
knowledge  of  science,  and  this  has  been  greatly  facilitated  by 
the  use  of  a  variety  of  small  spring  traps,  which  are  set  in  num- 
bers in  the  runways  made  by  these  little  animals  in  the  localities 
they  haunt.  By  this  means  naturalists  have  taken  numerous 
mice,  shrews,  and  their  allies,  hitherto  unknown  to  them,  and  the 
systematic  use  of  such  traps  in  the  unexplored  regions  of  foreign 
countries  will  undoubtedly  result  in  the  capture  of  a  perfect 
legion  of  small  mammals,  the  presence  of  which,  in  former  ex- 
plorations, has  been  never  so  much  as  suspected  by  the  collector. 
A  Deer  mouse  is  but  a  little  larger  than  a  specimen  of  our  com- 
mon House  mouse,  and  is  at  the  same  time  a  very  different  ap- 
pearing animal,  being  of  an  ochre  brown  above,  with  all  the  lower 
parts  and  feet  pure  white.  It  is  from  this  latter  circumstance 
that  it  gets  its  specific  name  of  leucopus.  Their  ears  are  rather 
large,  and  their  eyes  are  markedly  so,  and  very  prominent  and 
bright.  Many  of  the  members  of  this  genus  have  the  ears  strik- 
ingly large,  but  none  more  so,  I  believe,  than  True's  mouse,  a 
form  first  described  by  the  writer  in  New  Mexico  some  ten  years; 
ago.  (See  Fig.  110.)  Deer  mice  very  rarely  get  into  our  dwell- 
ings, where  the  House  mice  have  for  so  many  ages  been  domiciled, 
but  if  we  repair  to  any  cornfield  in  the  autumn  time,  and  turn 
over  a  corn  shock  or  two,  we  are  pretty  sure  to  find  among  the 
various  species  of  mouse  thus  taken  by  surprise,  a  Deer  mouse  or 


416 


CHAPTERS    ON    THE    NATURAL    HISTORY 


so.  They  can  be  recognized  at  once  by  their  big  eyes  and  their 
white  under  parts.  Of  course,  in  making  this  statement,  I  refer 
to  only  such  parts  of  the  United  States  or  elsewhere  where  the 
Deer  mice  are  geographically  distributed.  When  I  was  a  boy 
and  lived  on  Long  Island  Sound  in  southwestern  Connecticut,  we 


FIG.  110.     TRUE'S  PINON  MOUSE  (P.  truei). 

Life  size  from  nature 

used  to  capture  them  in  small  figure-of-4  traps,  and  most  interest- 
ing little  pets  they  made  when  properly  cared  for. 

During  the  spring  of  1896,  at  my  home  here  near  Washington, 
D.  C.,  while  superintending  the  felling  of  a  large  poplar  tree,  the 
victim  of  a  hurricane  that  a  few  days  before  had  swept  the  coun- 
try, my  son  captured  one  of  these  mice.  He  was  in  the  tree  at  the 
time,  when  the  mouse  was  disturbed  at  its  roots  by  the  axman;  it 


FIG.  111.     THE  DEER  MOUSE  (Peromyscus  leucopus). 

Subadult    $  ,  natural  size.     From  a  photograph  of  living  specimen  by  the  Author. 


OF  THE  UNITED  STATES  419 

immediately  ran  up  the  tall  tree,  a  feat  it  performed  two  or  three 
times,  racing  up  and  down,  before  it  was  adroitly  taken  by  my 
boy  as  it  attempted  to  get  out  upon  one  of  the  broken  lower 
limbs.  This  specimen  is  now  before  me  alive,  and  I  take  it  to  be 
a  subadult  individual,  inasmuch  as  its  fur  above  is  of  a  dark  gray, 
the  color  assumed  by  the  coat  in  the  young  animals  of  this  spe- 
cies. In  a  small  box  it  soon  made  a  fine  nest  of  tow,  and  seemed 
to  be  perfectly  content  with  a  little  water  and  a  store  of  yellow 
corn.  The  day  following  its  capture  I  succeeded  in  getting  a 
very  good  photograph  of  my  prisoner,  and  a  copy  of  this  is  repro- 
duced here  as  an  illustration  to  the  present  chapter.  He  ran 
down  an  ear  of  corn  for  me  and  was  just  prepared  to  jump  when 
my  faithful  camera  caught  him  in  the  act. 

These  mice  usually  build  a  nest  in  some  old  decayed  stump  of 
a  tree  or  other  in  the  fields  or  forests.  It  is  made  principally  of 
the  slivers  of  the  bark  of  the  cedar  tree,  and  lined  with  soft 
grasses  and  similar  material.  They  may  also  use  corn  silk,  or 
occasionally  leaves,  and  the  like.  These  nests  are  also  built  in 
other  localities,  as  up  in  some  old  red  cedar  tree,  or  in  a  vacated 
hole  of  wroodpecker  or  flying  squirrel.  When  built  up  in  a  small 
tree  they  have  the  appearance  of  a  somewhat  large,  roundish 
mass  of  the  materials  above  mentioned,  with  a  small  hole  in  one 
side  for  the  owner  to  pass  in  and  out.  Not  infrequently  I  have 
captured  these  mice,  and  the  four  or  five  young  they  usually  have 
at  a  litter,  by  cautiously  climbing  the  tree  and  then  grabbing 
the  entire  nest,  being  careful  to  slap  my  gloved  hand  over  the  en- 
trance hole  in  so  doing. 

In  the  winter  time,  after  a  light  fall  of  snow,  if  we  go  into  the 
woods  or  meadows,  it  is  not  hard  to  find  in  suitable  places  tracks 
upon  tracks  of  these  little  animals.  They  lead  up  some  of  the 
trees,  or  into  stumps,  or  to  holes  in  the  snow,  where  they  have 
gone  down  for  food.  They  feed  principally  upon  grains  and 
numerous  kinds  of  seeds,  and  it  is  said  they  often  hoard  up  a 
quantity  of  corn  for  consumption  during  the  winter  months.  Un- 
like some  others  of  their  kin,  however,  the  deer  mice  never  seem 
to  pass  fully  into  a  dormant  state,  and  thus  hibernate  during  the 
cold  part  of  the  year,  for  we  find  evidences  of  their  activity  at  all 
seasons.  Farmers  claim  they  are  the  source  of  a  deal  of  harm  in 
their  corn  and  grain  fields ;  and  yet  these  very  farmers  shoot  with- 
out discrimination  every  hawk  and  owl  that  comes  in  their  way. 
Yet  were  it  not  for  certain  species  of  these  raptorial  birds,  con- 


420  CHAPTERS    ON    THE    NATURAL    HISTORY 

stantly  feeding  as  they  do  upon  small  rodents  of  every  descrip- 
tion, the  farmers'  lands  would  literally  be  overrun  with  field  mice, 
and  the  raising  of  grain  thus  be  rendered  almost  futile.  It  may 
be  said  here,  in  fact,  that  the  direst  enemies  the  deer  mice  have 
are  hawks  and  owls,  and  these  birds,  especially  at  such  times  as 
when  rearing  their  young,  capture  and  consume  almost  incredi- 
ble numbers  of  them.  Some  snakes,  weasels,  and  other  animals 
also  prey  upon  Deer  mice,  but  all  of  these  put  together  by  no  man- 
ner of  means  are  as  responsible  for  keeping  their  undue  increase 
in  check  as  are  certain  hawks  and  owls. 

These  Deer  mice  are  chiefly  nocturnal  in  habit,  and  are  but 
rarely  seen  by  men  during  the  daytime,  unless  special  search  is 
made  for  them  in  their  hiding  places.  In  confinement  they  be- 
come very  gentle  and  tame,  and  I  have  seen  it  stated  in  various 
popular  works  that  when  kept  in  cages  they  will  at  times  sit  upon 
their  haunches  and  give  vent  to  certain  low  and  peculiar  singing 
notes.  This  accomplishment  has  never  been  noticed  in  them  by 
the  present  writer,  though  I  have  known  the  female  of  the  com- 
mon House  mouse  thus  to  "  sing  "  during  the  time  she  has  been 
giving  birth  to  her  litter.  Upon  one  occasion  I  personally  ob- 
served a  case  of  this  kind,  the  very  distinctly  audible  notes  in- 
citing me  to  make  search  in  a  drawer  containing  house  linen. 
Here,  by  cautious  search,  I  discovered  a  female  House  mouse, 
with  two  newly  born  young  beneath  her.  Upon  being  exposed, 
the  "  notes  "  ceased,  and  she  ran  in  among  the  napkins  and  table 
cloths.  An  hour  or  so  later  the  "  singing  "  again  attracted  my  at- 
tention, and  upon  going  directly  to  the  same  spot,  the  mother 
mouse  was  once  more  surprised,  and  this  time  her  litter  had  been 
increased  by  the  addition  of  two  or  three  more  young  ones. 

Deer  mice,  in  common  with  their  other  near  relatives,  are  ex- 
tremely nervous  creatures,  and  upon  the  occurence  of  sudden 
sharp  sounds  in  their  immediate  neighborhood,  they  will  lay  back 
their  ears,  jump  several  inches  off  their  feet,  and  at  the  same 
time  protruding  their  eyeballs,  as  if  those  organs  were  about  to 
pop  clean  out  of  their  sockets.  For  short  distances  they  can 
swim  well,  but  just  so  soon  as  the  fur  gets  thoroughly  wet,  they 
become  exhausted  and  soon  drown.  When  in  the  trees,  Deer 
mice  are  good  leapers,  and  by  this  means  make  rapid  progress  in 
passing  among  the  smaller  limbs  and  twigs. 

Notwithstanding  the  extreme  abundance  of  these  little  ani- 
mals, and  the  great  length  of  time  they  have  been  known  to  us, 


OF    THE    UNITED    STATES 


421 


we  are  still  quite  ignorant  of  much  that  pertains  to  their  natural 
history,  and  the  young  naturalists  of  this  country  can  employ 
their  time  in  no  better  way  than  to  make  personal  observations 
upon  the  habits  of  these  and  other  representatives  of  our  mam- 


FIG.  112.     THE  JUMPING  MOUSE  (Z.  hudsonius). 

Adult  male . 

malian  fauna,  recording  every  fact  noted  that  may  in  any  man- 
ner increase  our  knowledge  of  their  biology  in  any  one  of  its  de- 
partments. 

Several  years  ago  when  1  wrote  about  the  Jumping  mice  of  this 
country,  Zapus  hudsonius,  the  Jumping  mouse  was  the  sole  spe- 


422  CHAPTERS    ON    THE    NATURAL    HISTORY 

cies  of  the  only  genus  of  the  family  Zapodidce  of  the  order  Ro- 
dentia.  This  interesting  little  animal  measures  from  tip  to  tip, 
when  adult,  between  seven  and  eight  inches,  the  tail  being  con- 
siderably longer  than  the  body.  It  is  white  on  its  lower  parts, 
while  on  the  back  and  superior  aspects  it  is  of  a  reddish  brown. 
Ranging  over  North  America  generally,  although  nowhere  abun- 
dant, it  is  known  in  some  localities  as  the  Canada  jerboa,  it  hav- 
ing much  the  appearance  of  one  of  those  animals,  with  its  long 
hind  and  short  forelegs,  and  its  power  of  taking  long  leaps.  Mr. 
Abbott,  in  comparing  the  habits  of  hibernation  of  the  Deer  mouse 
(P.  leucopus)  with  Zapus,  says:  "These  two  mice,  popularly  so 
called,  hibernate  with  regularity  in  one  sense,  but  dift'er  inter  sc 
in  another.  The  former  (Zapus)  once  torpid,  remains  so  until 
spring,  a  few  warm  days  in  winter  failing  to  rouse  them;  but 
the  White-footed  mouse  seems  simply  to  sleep  soundly  rather 
than  grow  torpid,  and  responds  with  considerable  prompt- 
ness to  any  disturbance.  The  Jumping  mouse  builds  a  nest 
of  leaves  and  grass  at  a  comfortable  depth  from  the 
surface  of  the  ground  (not  a  "  ball  of  mud,'  as  stated  in  the  Ency- 
clopedia Britannica,  Art.  '  Jerboa '),  and,  once  fairly  settled 
therein,  is  beyond  the  various  sudden  changes  of  our  winters;  the 
White-footed  mouse,  on  the  contrary,  utilizes  an  old  bird's  nest, 
or  has  a  nesting  place  beneath  a  log  or  in  a  half-decayed  stump. 
In  such  positions,  of  course,  the  occupant  is  more  likely  to  be  dis- 
turbed, and  is  also  directly  exposed  to  the  varying  temperature. 
Is  it  to  meet  the  requirements  of  his  condition  that  this  mouse 
lays  up  a  goodly  stock  of  food  during  the  autumn?  Something 
the  jerboa,  or  jumping  mouse,  does  not  do.  However  this  may 
be,  the  fact  remains,  that  both  these  rodents  are  quite  sensitive 
to  cold,  and  hibernate  as  soon  as  the  winter  sets  in ;  yet  how  dif- 
ferently is  this  faculty  exercised!  " 

Zapus  may  have  several  litters  during  a  summer,  and  the  fe- 
male bring  forth  from  three  to  four  each  time.  Sometimes  the 
mother  may  be  seen  dragging  her  semi-hairless  progeny  along, 
bumping  them  over  the  ground  as  they  hang  on  like  grim  death 
to  her  teats.  This  animal  in  leaping  takes  a  course  in  zigzags, 
clearing  two  or  three  yards  at  a  time,  springing  with  its  hind  feet, 
but  landing  on  its  fore  feet  at  each  bound.  Farmers  sometimes 
plow  it  up  in  their  wheat  fields,  when  it  makes  off  in  magnificent 
leaps.  It  feeds  on  grain  and  various  kinds  of  seeds,  but  rarely 
does  much  damage.  Strictly  nocturnal  in  its  habits,  it  may  be 


OF  THE  UNITED  STATES  423 

found  haunting  either  the  woods  or  the  open  cultivated  fields. 
Smaller  by  all  odds  than  many  of  its  kin  in  foreign  lands,  it  is 
when  captured  found  to  be  a  gentle  and  timid  little  creature,  that, 
with  pains  and  care,  is  soon  broken  to  domestication  and  makes 
a  very  interesting  little  pet. 

All  of  our  United  States  mice  belong  to  the  Family  Muridce,  a 
group  that  likewise  includes  the  Muskrats  (Fiber,  Ncofiberj ;  the 
Lemmings  (Myodes) ;  and  the  Cotton  and  Wood  Eats  (Higmo- 
don,  Neotoma).  And,  as  has  before  been  said,  this  family  of  the 
Muridce  belongs  to  the  Order  Rodentia,  that  includes,  besides  the 
Squirrels  (Sciuridw)  and  the  Mice,  the  Jumping  Mice  (Zapodidcv)  ; 
the  Porcupines  (Hystricidce) ;  the  Pikas  (Lagomyidw) ;  and  the 
Hares  (Leporidw).  Representatives  of  all  of  these  families  are  to 
be  found  within  the  boundaries  of  the  United  States,  while  others 
of  the  Rodentia  occur  not  only  in  Mexico  and  Central  America, 
but  the  world's  fauna  at  large  oft'ers  as  many  more,  and  very  re- 
markable rodentine  families,  containing  many  species  and  sub- 
species. Comparatively  speaking,  the  order  Rodentia  is  composed 
of  mammals  of  small  size,  the  largest  form  known  to  it  being 
the  famous  Capybara  (Hydrochoerus  capybara)  of  South  Amer- 
ica, while  some  of  the  little  pocket-mice  represent,  next  to  some 
shrews,  the  smallest  of  all  known  mammals.  Rodents  are  mostly 
terrestrial  forms  rarely  given  to  tree  or  aquatic  life,  and  there  are 
probably  a  thousand  good  species  of  them  known  to  science,  with 
a  great  many  more  yet  to  be  discovered  and  described.  Animals 
of  this  group  have  no  canine  teeth,  and  are  readily  known  by  their 
stout,  chisel-shaped  incisors,  of  which,  with  the  exception  of  Lago- 
morpha,  there  are  commonly  two  in  each  jaw,  just  as  we  find  them 
in  a  squirrel.  There  are  never  more  than  two  incisor  teeth  in 
the  lower  jaw  in  any  rodent.  These  incisor  teeth  are  very  re- 
markable, growing  as  they  do  from  persistent  pulps,  and  without 
interruption.  Their  roots  are  long  and  curved,  extending  far 
back  into  the  skull  or  the  mandible,  the  aforesaid  pulp  from 
which  they  continually  grow  being  at  the  hinder  extremities, 
while  their  anterior,  chisled  ends  are  kept  permanently  sharp  by 
the  friction  between  the  free  edges  of  the  upper  and  lower  pair. 
From  one  cause  or  another  it  sometimes  happens,  as  in  the  case  of 
a  rabbit  or  squirrel,  that  the  opposing  surfaces  or  edges  are  dis- 
torted, whereupon  the  misplaced  tooth  or  teeth  having  no  op- 
posed one  to  wear  it  off,  continues  to  grow  on  without  interrup- 
tion, and  as  the  form  of  the  tooth  is  curved, it  usually  grows  back- 


424  CHAPTERS    ON    THE    NATURAL    HISTORY 

ward  into  the  mouth,  sometimes  causing  the  death  of  the  animal. 
The  molars  or  grinders  may  be  rootless  or  the  reverse,  but  are 


FIG.  113.     VERTICAL,  LONGITUDINAL  SECTION  THROUGH  THE 
SKULL  OF  A  BEAVER  (Castor  fiber). 

Showing  the  central  cavity,  the  greatly  developed  turbinal  laminae,  the  mode  of  implanation  of  the 
large,  ever-growing,  chisel-edgsd  incisor,  and  the  curved,  rootless  molars.  Drawn  by  the  Author  after 
Flower. 


FIG.  114.     SIDE  VIEW  OF  THE  SKULL  OF  A  BEAVER  (Castor fiber). 

Lower  jaw  removed,  showing  teeth  in  the  natural  skull.    Drawn  by  the  Author  after  Huxley. 


FIG.  115.     SIDE  VIEW  OF   THE   SKULL   OF  A   MUSKRAT   (Fiber 

zibethicus). 

never  numerous.    Their  positions  are  well-shown  in  my  figure  of 
the  skulls  of  the  Muskrat  and  Beaver,  here  given.    In  addition  to 


OF    THE    UNITED    STATES  425 

these  distinctive  characters  presented  on  the  part  of  the  teeth  in 
rodents,  they  offer,  as  a  whole,  many  other  interesting  and  in- 
structive anatomical  structures  and  physiological  functions. 
The  arboreal  squirrels  have  already  been  touched  upon  in  an- 
other chapter;  the  cursorial  Hares  and  Rabbits,  are  terrestrial 
types,  although  the  Water  hare  found  in  Alabama  (Lepus  aqua- 
ticus)  swims  well.  Some  of  the  Mice  are  great  jumpers,  and  their 
organization  has  become  fitted  to  meet  the  surprising  agility 
which  they  possess.  Many  rodents  are  almost  typically  fossor- 
ial,  as  the  Moles  and  many  others ;  while  such  forms  as  the  Beav- 
ers and  Muskrats  are  essentially  of  a  natatorial  habit. 

In  describing  the  mouth  in  the  Rodentia,  Sir  William  H. 
Flower  has  remarked  that  it  is  "  divided  into  two  cavities  com- 
municating by  a  constricted  orifice  an  anterior,  containing  the 
large  incisors,  and  a  posterior,  in  which  the  molars  are  placed, 
the  hairy  integument  of  the  face  being  continued  inwards  behind 
the  incisors.  This  evidently  prevents  substances  not  intended  for 
food  getting  into  the  mouth,  as  when  the  animal  is  engaged  in 
gnawing  through  an  obstacle.  In  the  Hares  and  Pacas  the  in- 
side of  the  cheeks  is  hairy,  and  in  some  species,  as  in  the  Pouched 
Rats  and  Hamsters,  there  are  large  internal  cheek  pouches,  lined 
with  the  hairy  integument,  which  open  near  the  angles  of  the 
mouth  and  extend  backwards  behind  the  ears ;  in  the  New- World 
Pouched  Rats  (Geomyidce)  the  pouches  open  externally  on  the 
cheeks." 

Speaking  of  the  Hares,  it  may  be  said  that  we  have  in  this 
country  many  species  and  subspecies  of  them,  all  belonging  to 
the  family  Leporidce;  but  we  have  no  true  Rabbits,  a  name,  which, 
by  custom,  has  only  been  applied  to  the  smaller  variety  of  our 
Hares,  as  they  so  closely  resemble  the  true  Rabbits  of  the  Old 
World.  These  latter  by  habit  are  gregarious,  and  are  found  in 
the  open  country,  where  they  make  burrows  to  live  in.  Their 
young  are  also  born  blind  and  naked,  which  is  not  the  case  with 
the  Hares,  which  last  are  found  only  in  cover  of  some  sort  or 
other,  and  never  burrow,  and  are  solitary  by  nature.  The  two 
species  are  also  very  different  in  appearance.  Lepus  cunwulus 
is  the  common  wild  rabbit  of  Europe,  while  our  most  common 
Cotton-tail  is  the  L.  s.  sylvaticus,  an  animal  so  well  known  as  to 
require  no  special  description. 

The  Jackass  Rabbits  are  large  Hares  found  in  immense  num- 
bers in  the  West  and  Southwest,  and  they  afford  excellent  sport 


426  CHAPTERS    ON    THE    NATURAL    HISTORY 

in  hunting  them  with  greyhounds.  In  some  localities  in  Cali- 
fornia and  Colorado  these  animals  constitute  a  veritable  pest  to 
the  agriculturists,  and  of  recent  years  thousands  of  them  have 
been  destroyed  in  "  drives,"  where  many  hunters  have  surrounded 
them  and  driven  them  into  great  pens  or  corrals  to  be  subse- 
quently killed  by  the  hundreds. 

Another  family  of  rodents  represented  in  the  United  States  is 
the  Lagomyidce  or  the  Pikas.  It  contains  but  the  one  genus,  and 
our  fauna,  but  the  one  species,  Lagomys  princeps,  the  North  Amer- 
ican Pika,  or  Little  Chief  Hare.  This  animal  I  have  never  suc- 
ceeded in  taking,  though  on  numerous  occasions  in  the  Big  Horn 
Mountains  of  Wyoming,  I  have  heard  its  call.  It  seemed  gener- 
ally to  come  out  on  a  pile  of  loose  stones  somewhere  on  the 
mountain  side,  most  often  toward  sunset,  and  then  utter  a  pe- 
culiar sharp  little  whistle  of  its  own.  I  have  seen  old  hunters 
deceived  by  this  call,  as  at  certain  distances  it  does  not  sound 
very  unlike  the  bleating  of  a  Mountain  sheep.  Personally,  I 
know  but  little  about  this  particular  rodent,  but  know  it  to  be  a 
vegetable  feeder,  and  that  there  still  remains  much  to  be  discov- 
ered in  reference  to  its  habits.  Lagomys  is  derived  from  two  words 
signifying  a  hare-mouse,  and  the  few  species  in  existence  in  other 
parts  of  the  world  are  all  small  animals.  Other  interesting  ani- 
mals of  our  Kodentia  are  the  Porcupines,  and  of  these  we  have  at 
least  two  good  subspecies  in  the  United  States,  and  they  present 
many  interesting  habits  for  study. 


CHAPTER   XXVIII. 

BATS  AND  THEIR  HABITS. 

(Chiroptera.) 

ATS  form  a  restricted  group  of  volant  mammals  consti- 
tuting the  order  Chiroptera  (i.e.,  hand- winged).  There 
are  upward  of  one  hundred  and  fifty  species  of  them 
known  to  science,  but  of  these  perhaps  not  more  than 
twenty-five  of  the  smaller  forms  are  found  within  the  limits 
of  the  United  States.  It  is  in  the  tropical  and  subtropical 
regions  of  the  earth,  including  the  many  islands  of  those 
latitudes  wherein  the  larger  species  of  these  truly  remarka- 
ble animals  are  found.  On  some  islands  bats  are  the  only 
mammals  met  with,  a  fact  easily  accounted  for  when  taken 
in  connection  with  their  extraordinary  power  of  flight;  a 
power  made  possible  in  them  by  the  possession  of  the  extension 
of  a  delicate  membrane  included  between  the  greatly  elongated 
and  slender  digits  of  the  fore-limbs  upon  either  side  of  the  body. 
These  membranes  extend  so  as  to  reach  the  hind  legs,  wrhile  in 
some  species  they  are  even  produced  posteriorly  so  as  to  include 
the  tail.  This  arrangement  renders  them  extremely  awkward  in 
most  cases  in  the  matter  of  terrestrial  locomotion,  while  it  in- 
variably insures  movements  in  the  air  of  the  greatest  ease  and 
grace,  unequaled  by  any  other  form  that  flies.  In  fact  the  en- 
tire economy  of  the  animal  is  especially  adapted  to  this  power  of 
aerial  progression,  and  to  the  capture  of  their  food  in  that  ele- 
ment. As  a  rule,  their  organs  of  sight  are  but  feebly  developed 
with  respect  to  size,  but  this  is  fully  compensated  for  by  their 
great  keenness  of  hearing  and  smell,  and  to  those  keen  senses 
must  be  added  the  high  degree  of  tactual  sense  with  which  their 
wing-membranes  are  endowed.  Indeed,  in  those  experiments 
wherein  bats  have  had  the  powers  of  hearing,  sight,  and  smell 
practically  destroyed,  they  find  no  difficulty  in  flying  about  and 
avoiding  any  obstacle  met  with  in  their  course,  and  that  too,  with 
the  greatest  apparent  ease.  Some  of  the  foreign  bats  are  charar 
terized  by  great  development  of  the  external  ears;  the  peculiar 
leaf -like  appendages  surmounting  the  nose ;  or  by  the  possession 
of  tubular  nostrils.  In  the  Long-eared  bat  of  Britain,  for  example, 
the  external  ears  have  a  length  equal  to  the  entire  length  of  the 


428  CHAPTERS    ON    THE    NATURAL    HISTORY 

animal's  body;  in  the  Leaf -nosed  bats  the  external  nasal  append- 
ages are  simply  extraordinary,  possessing  a  wonderful  variety 
of  forms  and  sizes,  and  of  the  keenest  tactile  sense.  In  fact, 
anatomically  speaking,  there  is  no  order  of  existing  mammals 
presenting  a  greater  number  of  points  of  structural  or  morpho- 
logical interest  than  do  the  representatives  of  this  highly  varied 
group.  An  entire  volume,  of  goodly  size,  might  with  ease  be 
written  upon  this  subject  alone. 

In  the  early  days  when  accounts  of  animals  first  came  to  be 
written,  such  naturalists  as  Pliny  classified  the  bats  with  the 
birds,  an  error  committed  likewise  by  one  of  the  authors  of  the 
Bible.  Even  at  a  much  later  day,  Linmeus  included  them  among 
the  Primates  with  man  and  the  Apes,  chiefly  for  the  reasons  that 
the  mammary  glands  wrere  found  upon  the  fore  part  of  the  chest; 
on  account  of  the  number  of  superior  incisor  teeth  (four  in  many 
species);  and  that  the  organ  of  generation  in  the  male  was  pen- 
d^nt.  Numerous  other  naturalists,  later  on,  followed  suit,  as  a 
few  similar  structures  in  the  organs  of  reproduction  of  the  fe- 
male wrere  studied,  but  all  these  requirements  were  subsequently 
explained  by  zoologists  of  more  modern  date,  the  position  of  the 
mamma?,  for  example,  being  evidently  related  to  the  position  the 
young  must  assume  during  the  flight  of  the  mother.  As  a 
greater  number  of  species  came  to  be  examined  with  stricter  re- 
gard to  anatomical  detail,  it  remained,  finally,  for  Professor  Hux- 
ley to  point  out  that  the  bats  were  nothing  more  nor  less  than 
extremely  modified  Insectivora  with  their  structure  almost  wholly 
subservient  to  the  power  of  flight.  "  So  thoroughly,  however, 
has  this  adaptation  been  carried  out  that,"  as  Sir  William  Henry 
Flower  says,  "  of  all  animals  the  bats  are  the  least  terrestrial, 
not  one  of  them  being  equally  well  fitted,  as  most  birds  and  in- 
sects are,  for  progression  on  the  earth.  This  is  due  to  the  hind  as 
well  as  the  fore-limbs  being  pressed  into  the  service  of  aerial  lo- 
comotion. The  hind  limb  is  so  rotated  outwards  by  the  wing- 
membrane  that,  contrary  to  what  obtains  in  all  other  vertebrates, 
the  knee  is  directed  backwards,  and  corresponds  in  position  to 
its  serial  homologue,  the  elbow.  When  placed  on  the  ground, 
therefore,  the  animal  rests  on  all  fours,  having  the  knees  directed 
upwards  like  a  grasshopper's,  while,  in  order  to  bring  the  foot 
into  a  position  for  forward  progression,  it  is  rotated  forwards 
and  inwards,  on  the  ankle.  Walking  under  these  circumstances 
is  at  best  only  a  species  of  shuffle,  and  that  this  is  fully  recog- 


FIG.  116.  BATS  IN  AN  OLD  TREE  STUMP. 

Upper  one  is  the  Serotine  Bat  (Adelonyctirus  fuscus,  $  )  and  the  lower  one  (suspended  by  the  feet) 
is  the  Red  Bat  (Alalapha  borealis,  $  )  showing  protective  mimicry.  Photographed  natural  size  from 
life  by  the  Author. 


OF    THE    UNITED    STATES  431 

nized  by  the  animal  is  evidenced  by  its  great  anxiety  to  take  to 
the  wing,  or,  if  this  be  impracticable,  to  ascend  to  some  point 
where  it  can  hitch  itself  up  by  the  claws  of  the  hind  legs  in  its 
usual  position  when  at  rest."  With  hints  of  this  nature  before 
us,  the  study  of  the  skeleton  in  various  species  of  bats  becomes 
intensely  interesting. 

Mythological  literature  from  the  dawn  of  history  has  used  the 
bat  as  the  emblem  of  everything  uncanny,  it  even  having  been 
made  sacred  to  Proserpine,  the  Empress  of  Hell.  Likewise,  the 
animal  has  by  the  superstitions  of  all  ages  been  regarded  with 
the  utmost  dread  and  horror,  or  as  a  popular  writer  puts  it,  the 
"  use  of  bats  for  these  purposes  is  as  old  as  Homer,  who  very 
skillfully  manages  them  in  heightening  the  graphic  effect  of  the 
splendid  passage  in  which  he  describes  the  shrieks  and  wailings 
of  the  ghosts  in  the  regions  of  woe;  and  after  Homer,  all  poets 
and  painters  who  have  ventured  upon  similar  delineations  have 
made  use  of  the  bats  for  the  purposes  of  effect.  Even  to  this 
day,  painters  must  borrow  the  wings  of  bats  for  their  devils,  in 
the  same  way  that  they  borrow  the  wings  of  doves  for  their 
angels;  and  one  has  only  to  throw  a  deep  Rembrandt  shade  over  a 
piece  of  canvas,  and  show  a  bat's  wing  partly  displayed  from  a 
cave,  in  order  to  give  an  infernal  air  to  it,  and  make  it,  with  very 
little  painting  a  good  poetical  representation  of  the  gates  of  hell. 
It  is  easy  to  see  how  a  race  which  is  linked  with  such  associa- 
tions, should  have  had  but  a  scanty  measure  of  justice  meted  out 
to  it  by  the  half -superstitious  naturalists  of  the  Middle  Ages; 
and  a  remnant  of  the  same  superstition  is  no  doubt  the  cause  of 
much  of  the  horror  which  is  still  connected  with  some  of  the 
larger  species  of  warm  countries." 

Modern  science,  however,  is  rapidly  dissipating  such  ideas, 
and  in  time  will  eliminate  them  altogether. 

Of  the  foreign  bats  we  may  note  the  great  tailless,  fruit-eating 
"Flying  Foxes,"  of  the  East  Indies,  of  the  family  Ptero  pod  idee,  one 
species  measuring  five  feet  across  its  outstretched  wings.  This, 
also  known  as  the  Roussette  bat  (and  allied  forms),  often  con- 
gregate in  vast  numbers  in  the  forests,  and  in  settled  parts  do 
much  damage.  Their  history  is  full  of  interest.  Several  other 
very  remarkable  genera  belong  to  the  same  family.  Then  there 
are  a  large  number  of  the  Leaf -nosed  bats,  already  alluded  to, 
and  the  famous  blood-suckers  or  Vampires,  of  both  of  which  a 
great  deal  has  been  said  and  written. 


432  CHAPTERS    ON    THE    NATURAL    HISTORY 

Through  the  efforts  of  Peters,  Dobson,  Flower,  Harrison  Allen, 
and  others  the  classification  of  the  order  is  now  upon  a  very  good 
basis,  and  new  forms  from  various  parts  of  the  world  are  con- 
stantly being  added  to  it.  Our  small,  insectivorous,  and  for  the 
most  part  either  nocturnal  or  crepuscular  bats,  in  habit,  all  seem 
to  fall  within  the  suborder  Microchiroptera,  being  confined  to  the 
families  Vespertilionidd ,  Emballonuridw,  while  the  Leaf-nosed 
bats  (Phyllostomidce)  are  found  only  beyond  the  southern  border 
of  the  United  States. 

Of  the  first  two  mentioned  families  the  writer  has  studied  in 
nature  and  in  the  Museums  not  a  few  species  belonging  to  them, 
and  especially  such  forms  as  our  little Ked  bat  (Atalaphaborealis)  ; 
the  Serotine  bat  (  Adelonycterls  fuscus)  ;  the  Pale  bat  (V.  evotis)  ; 
the  Hoary  bat  (A.  cinctra) ;  and  a  number  of  others.  Many  years 
ago  I  collected  in  New  Orleans  a  remarkable  species  (Xi/cthio- 
mus  sp  ?)  that  had  a  long  tail  like  a  mouse,  and  not  included  in 
any  interfemoral  membrane.  It  was  very  active  on  the  ground, 
where  its  locomotory  powers  were  good,  thus  forming  an  excep- 
tion to  the  general  rule.  The  Hoary  bat  has  also  been  shot  by 
me,  when  hunting  its  insect  food  during  the  brightest  hours  of 
noonday,  and  in  the  full  rays  of  the  sun.  As  a  rule,  however, 
all  of  our  bats  hide  away  during  the  daytime  either  in  hollow 
trees,  caves,  fissures  in  rocks,  or  frequently  in  deserted  buildings, 
or  concealed  open  cavities  in  tenanted  houses  or  public  edifices; 
and  in  such  structures  as  wooden  bridges  and  elsewhere.  Some- 
times the  number  found  in  such  places  is  enormous.  The  little 
Red  bat,  however,  and  other  species  seem  to  be  satisfied  to  han<i 
by  its  hinder  feet,  head  downward,  from  the  twigs  of  trees  and 
shrubs,  in  which  situations  I  have  frequently  taken  it.  When  in 
large  hosts  and  their  hiding  place  somewiiat  confined,  they  will 
give  vent  to  a  variety  of  noises,  hisses,  and  cheiropterine  grunts 
when  disturbed,  and  so  great  is  the  agitation  sometimes  that  the 
temperature  of  the  cavity  will  be  elevated  several  degrees,  a 
fact  proved  by  the  use  of  the  thermometer.  From  these  hiding- 
places  they  swarm  out  as  evening  comes  on,  and  immediately  pro- 
ceed to  hunt  the  insects  upon  which  they  subsist.  Enormous 
numbers  of  highly  noxious  pests  to  man  are  thus  nightly  de- 
stroyed, in  which  pursuit  the  bats  are  a  great  benefit  to  us.  Bats 
as  a  rule,  breed  during  the  hottest  part  of  the  year,  and  usually 
have  two  young  at  a  birth.  I  have  shot  the  female  Red  bat  with 
a  helpless,  nearly  hairless,  young  one  at  each  breast,  vigorously 


FIG.  117.     SEROTINE  BAT  (Adelonyctcris  fuscus). 

$  ,  natural  si/e.     Suspended  upon  a  twig  of  Hazel  bush  (near  nut);  right  lateral  view  ;  showing  pro- 
tective resemblance.     Photographed  from  life  b.y  the  Author. 


OF    THE    UNITED    STATES  435 

nursing  away,  and  holding  on  to  the  hair  of  the  mother  with  a 
pertinacity,  rivaling  that  of  a  young  opossum.  Harrison  Allen 
has  published  some  excellent  studies  of  the  reproduction  of  bats, 
that  are  of  great  importance,  and  we  stand  much  in  need  of  more 
literature  of  the  same  high  standard.  Bats  never  build  any  such 
a  thing  as  a  nest,  so  that  their  very  helpless  young  when  born 
must  wholly  rely  upon  the  one  supplied  by  the  hair  of  the 
mother's  breast  as  their  only  refuge.  Occasionally,  while  nurs- 
ing them,  she  will  suspend  herself  in  the  usual  way  in  her  place 
of  retreat,  and  allow  them  to  take  their  food  uninterrupted  by 
her  flight. 

As  evening  comes  on  bats  come  out  of  their  retreat  in  numbers, 
some  to  skim  up  and  down  the  bypaths  of  the  forests  and  glens; 
others  take  to  the  streets  and  lanes  of  cities,  towns,  and  villages, 
while  some  species  seem  to  prefer  to  do  their  entomological  hunt- 
ing far  up  in  the  air.  Light  invariably  attracts  them,  owing  to 
the  number  of  insects  that  swarm  about  it.  For  this  reason  they 
are  frequently  seen  flitting  about  the  street  lamps  or  even  fly 
into  our  houses  or  other  places  brilliantly  lit  up  during  the  hours 
of  evening  and  later  on.  So  among  the  town  people  in  England, 
as  also  in  some  parts  of  this  country,  they  are  called  Flitter-mice, 
and  by  the  Germans  Fleder-mauser,  while  I  may  add  the  French 
know  them  as  Chauve-souris,  or  Ball-mice.  They  are,  when  fly- 
ing about  at  dusk,  easily  shot  with  a  light  gun  or  collecting  cane; 
or  they  may  be  taken  with  a  hand-net.  Boys  about  the  street- 
lights frequently  get  them  by  tossing  up  little  pebbles  in  the  air, 
and  as  the  bat  flits  down  after  what  it  supposes  to  be  a  beetle,  it 
is  knocked  to  the  ground  with  a  bushy  bunch  of  leafy  twigs  in  the 
hand  of  the  juvenile  collector.  I  have  also  taken  them  with  a 
small  fly-fishhook  and  line,  flipped  about  skillfully  in  the  air 
where  they  have  been  numerous,  and  hunting  well  some  special 
locality. 

During  the  winter,  particularly  in  the  North,  our  bats  all  hi- 
bernate in  cavities  in  large  bodies  together;  although  some  spe- 
cies, I  believe,  do  the  same  singly  or  only  a  few  together.  Sev- 
eral times  in  the  winter,  if  a  warm  day  happen  to  come  on,  I  have 
seen  the  Ked  bat  come  out  and  hunt  with  quite  as  much  activity 
as  though  it  were  midsummer.  Such  sights,  however,  are  but 
rarely  seen. 

Our  Serotine  bat  is  capable  to  a  degree  of  being  tamed,  but  as  a 
rule  thev  are  vicious,  cross,  little  creatures,  that  bite  with  vigor 


436  CHAPTERS    ON    THE    NATURAL    HISTORY 

whenever  handled.  Most  all  of  our  species  possess  a  musky 
smell  about  them,  very  strong  under  some  circumstances,  and 
very  disagreeable  to  some  people.  When  coming  into  our  houses 
in  the  evening  bats  have  been  known  to  get  into  the  hair  of  some 
lady  present,  generally  by  being  knocked  there  by  some  male 
member  of  the  family  present,  in  his  efforts  to  kill  the  specimen. 
When  thus  entangled,  it  requires  skillful  handling  to  get  the 
poor  frightened  little  creature  free  again,  especially  as  the  lady 
will  often  make  the  feat  the  more  difficult  by  her  agitation  and 
screams.  Foolish  and  thoughtless  people,  largely  under  the  in- 
fluence of  superstition,  have  cut  the  hair  away  under  such  cir- 
cumstances, a  totally  unnecessary  procedure. 

Just  at  this  point  I  desire  to  say  something  about  protective 
resemblance,  or,  as  many  naturalists  have  termed  it,  protective 
mimicry,  as  further  on  it  is  my  intention  to  show  how  this  impor- 
tant law  of  nature  applies  to  the  animals  being  considered  in  the 
present  chapter. 

It  is  a  wrell-known  fact  that  many  of  the  living  organic  forms 
in  the  world,  .by  their  close  resemblance  to  various  objects  in  na- 
ture, are  often  hidden  or  made  less  conspicuous  to  their  enemies, 
and  so  are  protected  and  are  preserved  from  extinction.  Many 
insects  closely  imitate  such  natural  objects  as  the  bark  of  certain 
trees,  various  kinds  of  living  or  dead  leaves,  or  stones,  twigs, 
lichens,  and  so  on,  thus  greatly  enhancing  the  chances  for  their 
lives  against  enemies  that  are  constantly  in  search  of  them  for 
food.  For  example,  I  have  seen  one  of  our  common  moths  rest- 
ing with  its  wings  closed  upon  the  bark  of  any  large  forest  tree, 
as  a  chestnut  or  oak,  and  so  closely  did  its  color  and  markings  re- 
semble that  of  the  tree  that  it  required  the  very  closest  scrutiny 
to  discover  it. 

In  the  East  Indies  they  have  a  small  caterpillar  that  so  closely 
resembles  the  form  often  seen  in  the  droppings  of  birds,  that  it 
rests  quite  safe  from  molestation;  and  simply  hundreds  of  other 
instances  of  protective  mimicry  might  be  given  for  all  kinds  of 
insects.  But. this  law  is  also  extended  to  representatives  of 
every  other  group  of  animals  of  both  the  vertebrate  and  inverte- 
brate divisions. 

Again  certain  animals  imitate  others,  which  latter  enjoy  im- 
munity from  attack,  and  thus  their  imitators  are  protected  like- 
wise. Certain  flies  have  such  close  resemblance  to  bees,  both  in 
the  matter  of  form  and  coloration,  that  it  serves  them  well  in  the 
matter  of  protection:  especially  when  these  flies  likewise  possess 


FIG.  118.     SEROTINE  BAT  (Adeloncyteris  fuscus)   $ ,  Nat.  Size. 

Photographed  from    life 


Anterior  view.      Same  specimen  as  in  figure  117.      On  twig  of  maple. 

by  the  Author. 


OF    THE    UNITED    STATES  439 

the  power  of  even  making  the  same  buzzing  that  the  bees  do, 
producing  it  upon  similar  occasions.  Did  space  allow,  numerous 
examples  of  this  variety  of  mimicry  might  be  cited  here. 

Frequently  certain  animals  are  very  obnoxious  to  others,  for 
one  reason  or  another;  then  these  are  seen  to  be  very  highly 
colored,  or  as  we  say,  exhibit  warning  coloration.  Our  bright  lit- 
tle Harlequin  snake  (Elaps)  is  a  familiar  example  of  this,  and  the 
skunk  among  mammals  is  very  distinctly  colored,  and  apparently 
on  this  account. 

Just  at  this  moment  I  do  not  happen  to  recall  the  name  of  a 
naturalist  who  has  had  anything  to  say  about  cases  of  protec- 
tive mimicry  in  bats,  yet  it  is  frequently  to  be  noticed.  One 
warm  evening  last  autumn  I  was  passing  through  an  extensive 
swamp,  in  which  there  was  a  close  undergrowth  of  hazel,  oaks, 
dwarf  magnolias,  and  dogwood.  Many  of  the  leaves  had  already 
been  changed  to  a  great  variety  of  shades  of  brown,  bay,  chest- 
nut, and  the  like,  and  many  had  already  fallen  to  the  ground. 
For  a  moment  I  stood  quiet  with  my  gun  to  re-catch  the  note  of 
a  vireo  that  I  had  heard,  but  the  bird  had  escaped  me.  The 
twigs  of  the  undergrowth  came  very  close  to  my  face,  and  I  had 
been  peering  among  those  of  a  small  oak  for  several  moments. 
By  the  command  of  the  advancing  season,  many  of  its  leaves 
were  now  curled  up  and  changed  to  bright  browns  of  divers 
shades,  and  at  a  passing  glance  one  of  these  seemed  to  me  to  pos- 
sess unusually  black  vein  markings,  and  I  reached  out  to  pull  it 
off  its  twig.  All  this  took  but  the  fraction  of  an  instant,  and  just 
before  my  hand  came  in  contact  with  this  supposed-to-be  leaf  I 
discovered  it  .to  be  a  fine  specimen  of  the  male  of  our  little  Red 
bat  (Atalapha  borealis).  This  little  animal  had  been  suspended 
writhin  a  yard  of  my  face  for  certainly  nearly  ten  minutes,  and  yet 
I  had  noticed  it  only  as  I  came  to  move  away.  As  it  hung  there  by 
its  feet,  its  resemblance  to  a  dead  and  withered  leaf  was  truly 
remarkable,  and  I  studied  this  effect  very  closely  before  I  secured 
the  specimen. 

Dr.  A.  K.  Fisher,  of  the  United  States  Agricultural  Depart- 
ment at  Washington,  D.  C.,  once  told  me  of  an  interesting  inci- 
dent of  this  kind  that  happened  to  him.  He  was  engaged  in  de- 
stroying caterpillars  in  a  fruit  tree,  using  for  the  purpose  a  long 
pole  with  a  small  fire-wad  upon  the  end  of  it.  Some  of  the  cater- 
pillars were  in  the  dead  and  crumbled  leaves,  and  these  he  was 
touching  with  the  flame,  passing  from  one  to  the  other.  In  the 


440  CHAPTERS    ON    THE    NATURAL    HISTORY 

course  of  this  operation,  and  very  much  to  his  surprise,  one  of 
the  supposed  leaves,  as  it  got  its  firing,  instantly  spread  out  a 
pair  of  black  wings,  and  with  an  angry  twitter  made  off  with  a 
singed  coat.  It  was  a  Red  bat  that  had  been  thus  treated,  and  yet 
the  doctor  did  not  recognize  it  until  it  flew  to  escape  a  further 
scorching.  Here  was  a  case  where  protective  mimicry  did  not 
help  much. 

Some  of  our  bats  have  the  hair  of  a  beautiful  snuff-brown  color, 
as,  for  instance,  the  Serotine  bat  (Adclonycteris  fuscus),  specimens 
of  which  I  have  kept  for  months  at  a  time.  These  bats  become  so 
tame  in  confinement  that  they  will  both  eat  and  drink  while  being 
held  in  the  hand.  In  drinking  they  are  very  cunning,  lapping  the 
water  up  as  they  do  with  the  tongue,  after  the  fashion  of  a  little 
dog.  They  drink  a  good  deal,  and  have  simply  enormous  appe- 
tites. One  specimen  in  the  course  of  a  single  night  consumed 
twenty-one  full  grown  June  bugs  (Laclmosterna  fusca),  leaving 
only  a  few  legs  and  the  hard  outside  wing-sheaths  (elytra)  as  evi- 
dences of  his  feast  and  gluttony.  It  was  extremely  interesting 
to  watch  him  capture  and  devour  one  of  these  great  buzzing  beet- 
les. Often  I  would  serve  him  with  as  many  as  half  a  dozen  at  a 
time,  but  he  always  ate  one  up  entirely  before  attacking  a  second 
victim.  In  holding  his  prey  the  interfemoral  apron  of  the  bat  was 
frequently  used,  and  sometimes  he  devoured  an  entire  bug  in  the 
lap  of  it.  I  have  heard  it  said  that  this  bat  also  uses  its  apron 
during  flight,  as  a  net  to  catch  the  larger  beetles  which  it  feeds 
upon.  By  curving  the  membrane  forward,  as  it  notices  a  June 
beetle  in  its  flight,  it  can  easily  scoop  it  in,  and  reaching  forward, 
seize  it  with  its  teeth  in  an  instant.  When  much  alarmed,  many 
of  our  smaller  bats  greatly  protrude  the  eyeballs,  even  to  a  far 
greater  extent  than  is  seen  in  many  small  rodents. 

Now,  the  Serotine  bat  very  rarely  suspends  itself  in  the  trees, 
although  it  occasionally  does  so.  By  far  its  most  common  prac- 
tice is  to  hide  away  in  old  stumps,  in  crevices,  and  in  old  barns 
and  similar  places.  When  it  does  hang  in  a  tree  it  may  be  easily 
mistaken  for  either  a  dead  leaf  or  for  the  fruit.  (See  Figs.  116, 
117,  and  118.) 

Personally  I  have  never  as  yet  been  quite  able  to  satisfy  myself 
as  to  the  chief  enemies  of  the  bats  of  the  eastern  part  of  the 
United  States.  Possibly  the  smaller  carnivora  may  occasionally 
destroy  them,  or  snakes,  and  under  rare  conditions  perhaps  they 
may  be  captured  by  certain  hawks  and  owls.  Man  has  every 


OF    THE    UNITED    STATES  441 

reason  to  protect  them,  as  bats  destroy  simply  millions  of  destruc- 
tive insects.  Yet  the  smaller  species  of  temperate  countries 
rarely  seem  to  ever  increase  in  number  to  any  marked  extent.  To 
be  sure,  they  have  but  one  or  two  young  at  a  time,  and  in  the 
north  breed  but  once  during  the  season;  yet  with  so  few  enemies, 
and  man  not  in  the  list  of  these,  one  would  think  that  the  smaller 
species  would  become  very  numerous,  especially  in  those  locali- 
ties where  the  majority  of  the  conditions  were  favorable  to  them. 
During  recent  years  a  number  of  new  species  and  subspecies  of 
bats  have  been  added  to  the  fauna  of  the  United  States,  and 
doubtless  not  a  few  still  remain  to  rewrard  the  search  of  the  intel- 
ligent collector.  This  likewise  applies  to  the  discovery  of  the  fos- 
sil remains  of  bats,  as  bones  of  insectivorous  varieties  of  them 
have  already  been  found  in  the  tertiary  deposits  in  various  local- 
ities. 


CHAPTER  XXIX. 

Ml  SKUMS     AND    THEIR     USES  I     WITH     SOME     OBSERVATIONS     ON     TAX- 
IDERMY. 


this  country,  as  in  many  other  parts  of  the  world, 
nearly  all  of  our  large  cities  support  one  or  more  muse- 
ums, of  one  kind  or  another.  Sometimes,  too,  we  have 
private  museums  often  built  by  some  wealthy  indi- 
vidual and  devoted  to  the  containment  of  special  collections. 
Occasionally  the  public  are  given,  upon  certain  days,  access  to 
these  latter,  and  rarely  is  any  charge  made  therefor.  Whatever 
their  pretensions  may  be,  whether  great  or  small,  museums  are 
the  material  manifestations  of  a  variety  of  human  desires.  A  col- 
lection of  objects  may  be  gotten  together  simply  to  gratify  a 
taste  to  amass  specimens  of  things  curious,  without  any  regard  to 
instructive  aims,  classification,  or  naming  by  a  system  of  labels. 
There  seems  to  be  an  ever-present  craving  on  the  part  of  the  pub- 
lic to  see  the  unnatural,  the  odd,  the  uncanny,  and  the  so-called 
freaks  of  nature.  This  trait  is  frequently  taken  advantage  of  by 
the  mercenary,  and  collections  are  made  simply  to  gratify  it,  with 
the  sole  purpose  in  view  on  the  part  of  the  collector  or  collectors 
to  reap  the  pecuniary  income  derived  from  the  enterprise.  A 
large  part  of  Barnum's  success  lay  along  upon  these  lines,  ex- 
ploited as  they  were,  in  his  early  days  in  New  York  City,  upon  a 
basis  of  unrivaled  proportions.  In  the  same  category  fall  the 
pseudo-museums  of  anatomy,  often,  too,  developed  upon  a  grand 
scale,  and  in  wrhich  are  exhibited  by  life-size  models  every  object 
inclined  to  gratify  the  taste  for  the  morbid,  the  predilection  for 
all  that  is  horrible,  and  the  gratification  in  a  visual  way,  of  all 
that  is  unchaste,  and  savors  of  pruriency.  Apropos  to  this  as- 
pect of  my  subject,  I  would  say  that  for  many  years  past  the 
War  Department  at  Washington,  D.  C.,  has  supported,  upon  a 
broad  and  extended  basis,  an  Army  Medical  Museum,  devoted  to 
the  exhibition  of  army  surgery;  anatomy,  both  pathological  and 
normal;  and,  in  short,  anything  scientifically  illustrating  the 
medical  sciences.  Years  ago,  I  held  the  position  of  a  curator  in 
that  museum,  and  was  thus  enabled  to  study  the  great  number  of 


OF    THE    UNITED    STATES  443 

people  that  daily  passed  through  its  halls.  All  came,  both  men 
and  women,  and  I  noticed  that  the  great  attraction  was  the  cases 
containing  the  monstrosities,  and,  if  I  may  so  express  myself — 
the  usual  unseeables — while,  on  the  other  hand,  fine  collections 
of  comparative  osteology,  instruments,  relief  for  the  wounded, 
were  passed  by,  by  the  masses,  and  were  studied  only  by  the  few, 
the  refined,  and  the  progressive.  While  serving  in  the  above 
capacity,  I  wrote  quite  an  extensive  memoir,  entitled  u  Outlines 
for  a  Museum  of  Anatomy,"  and  the  same  was  duly  published  by 
the  United  States  Bureau  of  Education  in  Washington.  The 
objects  advised  to  be  brought  together  in  this  Museum  were  in- 
tended to  fully  illustrate,  in  every  possible  way,  upon  a  morpho- 
logical basis,  the  law  of  organic  evolution,  and  that  is  a  plan  of 
museum  we  greatly  need  in  all  centers  in  this  country.  It  was 
adopted  by  many  colleges  and  other  institutions  of  learning, 
greatly  to  the  gratification  of  the  hopes  of  its  author — and  that  is 
one  kind  of  a  museum  we  should  have  in  mind.  Then  there  are 
museums  devoted  to  such  fields  as  those  of  manufactures  and 
patents,  of  the  evolution  of  arms,  of  inventions,  of  zoology  in  all 
of  its  departments,  of  botany,  of  coins,  stamps,  and  other  human 
conveniences;  objects  illustrating  geology  and  paleontology,  of 
ethnology,  and  indeed,  of  any  other  department  of  which 
the  human  mind  takes  cognizance,  or  into  which  human  in- 
quisitiveness  has  carried  its  researches.  Of  whatever  the 
character  the  collection  in  any  museum  may  be,  however,  it 
should  always  be  based  upon  the  furtherance  of  several 
closely  allied  subjects.  These,  although  various,  are  akin. 
Above  all  else,  the  object  of  a  museum  should  seek  to  in- 
struct, to  teach,  to  advance  the  natural  progressiveness  of  the 
human  mind.  Its  collections  should  be  thoroughly  illustrative 
of  the  department  or  field  it  represents.  Its  objects  should  be 
arranged  in  normal  sequence  and  made  comparative.  For  exam- 
ple, if  the  museum  be  an  ornithological  one,  and  ornithology  has 
very  largely  been  considered  in  the  foregoing  chapters  of  the 
present  work,  it  should  be  shown  or  set  forth  at  the  very  entrance 
to  the  room  or  rooms  containing  the  collections,  exactly  what  the 
science  of  ornithology,  in  its  widest  sense,  purports  to  be.  This 
can  be  conveniently  done  by  means  of  properly  printed  labels,  dis- 
played in  a  methodical  manner.  Next  in  order  should  come  a 
series  of  models,  and  such  actual  specimens  as  can  be  obtained, 
representing  the  origin  of  birds  in  paleontologic  time,  and  their 


444  CHAPTERS    ON    THE    NATURAL    HISTORY 

ascent  from  a  stock  common  to  their  class  and  with  that  of  rep- 
tiles. Here,  too,  a  system  of  explanatory  labels  should  be  freely 
employed  in  connection  with  the  specimens,  as  well  as  designs 
upon  the  walls  giving  the  most  recent  conceptions  of  the  avian 
genealogical  tree.  Exhibited  next  in  sequence  should  be  natur- 
ally mounted  examples  of  the  lowest  forms  of  existing  birds,  with 
preparations  of  their  skeletons,  and  other  essential  systems  of 
their  anatomy.  The  linkage  of  these  forms  with  those  now  ex- 
tinct should  be  clearly  indicated,  as,  for  example,  in  the  case  of 
the  ostriches  and  the  moas,  the  modern  eagles  with  Harpagor- 
nis,  the  Loons  with  Hesperornis,  and  so  on,  down  the  entire  line, 
for  every  natural  group  of  the  Class.  These  latter  should  follow 
next,  the  most  lowly  organized  groups  coming  first,  and  all  ar- 
ranged upon  a  plan,  whereby  the  bird  itself  was  shown  (male, 
female,  and  young),  its  seasonal  changes,  its  structure,  geo- 
graphical distribution  (by  labels  and  maps),  and,  if  any,  its  eco- 
nomical importance  to  man.  The  matter  of  affinity  of  the  various 
natural  groups  can  be  largely  shown  by  their  juxtaposition  in  the 
exhibition  rooms,  and  by  explanatory  labels.  Too  much  import- 
ance cannot  be  attached  to  the  free  use  of  printed  labels — clear 
concise,  and  instructive.  NOWT  this  is  an  ideal  outline  for  a  typi- 
cal museum,  designed  to  illustrate  one  class  of  animals  in  zool- 
ogy; it  also  represents  the  highest  purposes  and  aims  a  museum 
can  have — that  is,  the  permanent  preservation  of  material,  ar- 
ranged upon  a  plan  capable  of  receiving  additions  and  altera- 
tions, and  the  whole  subservient  to  the  ends  of  education  of  the 
people.  Setting  aside  all  other  kinds  of  museums  as  not  prop- 
erly falling  within  the  scope  of  the  present  work,  it  may  be  said 
that  the  same  ideal  plan  should  be  applied  to  every  other  depart- 
ment of  biology,  and  to  geology.  Taken  as  a  whole,  neither  the 
people  nor  the  government  of  the  United  States  appreciate  the 
necessity  of  creating  and  sustaining  such  educational  institutions 
as  these,  but  the  time  will  come  when  they  will.  We  have  our 
museums,  to  be  sure,  but  in  these  days  they  are  more  designed 
to  serve  as  storehouses  for  material,  rather  than  to  meet  the 
demands  of  education.  The  time  is  now  ripe  for  the  latter  class; 
science  is  strong  enough  to  throw  off  the  yoke  of  myth  and  super- 
stition, exemplified  in  a  heterogeneous  collection  of  mounted 
animals  of  any  kind  in  her  museums,  arrayed  upon  a  Noahchian 
basis,  and  to  place  in  their  stead  scientific  serial  exhibits,  that 
will  present  to  the  minds  of  the  people  the  true  manner  in  which 


OF    THE    UNITED    STATES  445 

organic  life  arose  upon  the  surface  of  the  globe.  Not  only  thi? — 
its  evolution — but  its  distribution,  and  thus  to  account  for  the 
fact  why  one  country  has  one  kind  of  a  flora  and  fauna,  and  an- 
other country  another  kind. 

But  museums  and  the  minds  that  give  them  birth  and  control 
them,  evolve  and  develop  as  does  anything  else,  and  along  these 
lines,  every  generation  is  marked  by  improvement  and  progress. 
With  the  future  will  come  the  ideal,  educational  museum  of  biol- 
ogy; and  this  being  true,  our  interest  in  these  institutions  as  they 
now  exist  should  in  no  way  be  lessened.  We  should  study  them 
as  they  grow,  and  constantly  help  their  evolution  toward  better 
ends,  and  their  true  purposes.  In  my  lifetime  I  have  studied  a 
few  of  the  zoological  museums  in  our  larger  cities,  and  written 
about  them,  but  circumstances  have  been  such  that  the  major 
share  of  my  attention  has  been  directed  toward  the  National 
Museum,  of  Washington,  including  the  Smithsonian  Institution. 

The  Ornithological  Hall  of  this  latter  is  a  very  interesting 
room,  and  will  well  exemplify  what  I  have  just  said  above  in 
regard  to  the  present  condition  of  modern  museums  in  this  coun- 
try. Of  this  hall  I  am  enabled  to  offer  here  an  excellent  picture, 
taken  for  me  from  the  left-hand  side  of  the  end  gallery  at  the  east 
extremity  of  the  room.  This  gallery  corresponds  with  the  one 
seen  in  the  other  end  in  the  far  distance  in  the  picture.  There, 
overhead,  is  suspended  a  California  condor  in  the  act  of  flight, 
while  in  the  gallery  itself  are  mounted  specimens  of  various  kinds 
of  ostriches,  the  place  being  a  passage  from  the  long  side  gal- 
leries upon  either  hand.  Of  these,  the  south  one  is  occupied  by 
Mr.  Ridgway  and  his  assistants,  while  the  one  opposite  is  occu- 
pied by  Mr.  James  E.  Benedict,  assistant  curator  of  the  depart- 
ment of  marine  invertebrates.  Similar  galleries  occur  on  the 
eastern  half  of  the  hall,  and  these  are  for  the  conchologists,  there 
being  a  part  of  the  shell  exhibit  in  cases  down  the  entire  mid- 
length  of  the  floor  below,  as  may  be  observed  in  the  illustration. 

To  this  hall  there  are  midway  north  and  south  entrances,  while 
at  the  east  end  one  passes  by  double  doors  into  the  executive 
part  of  the  building,  and  at  the  opposite  end  into  another  very 
large  exhibition  department  containing  a  superb  display  of  cor- 
als, marine  invertebrates,  with  fish,  and  casts  of  reptiles,  and  so 
on.  Near  this  west  end  door  there  is  a  narrow  stairway  that 
leads  up  to  Mr.  Eidgway's  corridor,  and  to  one  side  of  it  a  de- 
scending passage  to  the  "  west  basement "  below.  In  the  for- 


446  CHAPTERS    ON    THE    NATURAL    HISTORY 

mer  Mr.  Ridgway  does  much  of  his  work,  and  has  there  thousands 
of  bird  skins  conveniently  arranged  in  cased  trays,  and  also  the 
sectional  ornithological  library;  while  in  the  latter,  besides  vast 
supplies  of  other  specimens  and  material,  there  are  nearly  20,000 
bird  skins  stored  away  in  cases.  This  is  a  most  unfortunate  cir- 
cumstance, as  in  such  a  situation  this  priceless  collection  is  not 
only  most  inconveniently  placed,  but  is  far  harder  to  defend 
against  museum  pests,  and  in  the  event  of  fire  would  surely  all 
be  lost.  This  reserve  series  of  birds  ought  to  be  in  a  large,  well- 
ventilated  room  by  itself,  and  so  arranged  as  to  be  thoroughly 
accessible.  Indeed,  another  entire  museum  building  is,  and  has 
been,  a  long  standing  need,  and  when  this  is  obtained  it  is  to  be 
hoped  that  these  splendid  ornithological  collections  of  the  Gov- 
ernment will  be  properly  cared  for  and  allotted  a  department  to 
themselves. 

As  will  be  seen  in  my  illustration,  the  cases  containing  the 
mounted  birds  in  this  hall  are  confined  to  alcoves  between  the 
columns,  and  below  the  corridors  on  the  main  floor.  There  are 
also  numerous  separate  groups  of  great  beauty  arranged  in  other 
parts  of  the  room,  and  in  cases  about  the  walls  in  the  spacious 
vestibule  to  the  south  entrance.  It  will  also  be  seen  that,  archi- 
tecturally, this  hall  is  quite  imposing;  it  is  also  fairly  well  lighted 
in  some  places  by  large  windows,  while  in  others  the  sun's  rays 
never  gain  access,  and  the  recesses  are  gloomy  beyond  all  de- 
scription. Too  much  light  in  rooms  where  mounted  series  of 
birds  are  permanently  kept  is,  of  course,  a  bad  thing,  but,  on  the 
other  hand,  we  ought  to  have  sufficient  to  distinguish  one  bird 
from  another  at  midday.  Some  of  the  birds  in  these  cases  are 
well  mounted,  especially  those  done  in  recent  years;  but  again, 
in  the  older  part  of  the  exhibition  series,  the  specimens  have  been 
prepared  in  the  vilest  possible  manner  imaginable,  without  any 
regard  whatever  to  form,  habits,  or  structure.  These  specimens 
stand  sadly  in  need  of  a  thorough  going  over  and  remounting  by 
skilled  taxidermical  artists.  (At  this  writing  this  is  being  done 
in  a  very  satisfactory  manner.) 

Between  the  arches  on  the  outside  of  the  railing  to  the  corri- 
dors, and  in  some  places  on  the  columns  themselves,  are  hung 
various  pictures  of  birds.  Many  of  these  are  copies  of  Audubon's 
plates;  some  are  Mr.  Ridgway's  originals;  and  there  are  some 
half  dozen  of  Audubon's  copper  plates  in  frames,  as  the  one  of 
the  scarlet  ibis  and  others.  The  public  entrance  to  this  depart- 


OF    THE    UNITED    STATES  449 

ment  is  through  the  north  doorway,  then  the  guard-room  vesti- 
bule, north  hallway,  and  under  the  sixth  arch,  counting  on  the 
right-hand  side  of  the  picture  from  east  to  west.  The  south  door- 
way of  the  building  is  but  rarely  used,  and  not  by  the  public 
within  the  writer's  recollection. 

One  of  the  chief  charms  about  this  old  Smithsonian  hall,  to 
me,  is  to  reflect  upon  its  history;  to  think  of  the  many  distin- 
guished ornithologists  and  scientists  who  from  time  to  time  have 
trod  upon  its  floors;  to  dwell  upon  the  probable  history  of  the 
*nany  specimens  of  the  birds  in  the  cases  (who  collected  them, 
and  where,  and  under  what  circumstances);  and  finally,  to  ponder 
upon  what  its  future  fate  may  be.  It  is  over  twenty  years  ago 
since  I  first  put  foot  in  this  old  time-honored  hall,  and  for  twenty 
years,  off  and  on,  I  have  passed  through  it  pretty  constantly.  A 
few  dozen  of  the  mounted  birds  in  the  cases  are  of  my  own  col- 
lecting, and  I  know  of  other  bits  of  history  pertaining  to  its 
somber  alcoves  that  would  make  very  interesting  reading,  but 
we  will  defer  that  to  some  other  time,  and  likely,  too,  to  some 
other  place. 

I  shall  conclude  the  present  chapter  with  a  few  general  re- 
marks upon  the  taxidermy  of  certain  mammals,  birds,  and  fish. 
A  few  years  ago  the  United  States  National  Museum  published 
for  me,  with  nearly  one  hundred  full-page  plates,  my  work  upon 
"  Scientific  Taxidermy  for  Museums,"  and  in  that  memoir  the 
systems  of  taxidermy  employed  in  this  country  were  quite  fully 
discussed,  so  in  the  present  place,  as  a  means  of  comparison,  I 
will  direct  ni3T  attention  to  the  work  in  Europe,  exemplifying  the 
better  class  of  it  by  what  has  recently  been  accomplished  in  the 
Leyden  Museum,  of  Leyden,  Holland.  I  am  the  better  prepared 
to  do  this  inasmuch  as  Mr.  H.  H.  ter  Meer,  Jr.,  the  taxidermist 
of  that  institution,  has  kindly  sent  me  many  photographs  of  the 
pieces  he  has  mounted,  as  well  as  some  of  those  done  by  >his 
father,  Mr.  H.  H.  ter  Meer,  Sr.,  who  shares  his  labors  with  him. 
Several  of  these  photographs  will  be  reproduced  here,  with  brief 
criticism  upon  them,  and  also  a  little  of  the  natural  history  of  the 
animals  themselves,  which  is  quite  entertaining.  After  the  skin 
has  been  removed  and  prepared,  Mr.  ter  Meer  makes  a  model  of 
the  external  form  of  the  larger  specimens  out  of  a  composition 
known  fully  only  to  himself.  Peat  enters  very  largely  into  this 
material,  and  it  is  of  such  a  consistency  that  all  the  muscles  and 
external  parts  can  be  exactly  copied,  while  at  the  same  time  a 


450  CHAPTERS    ON    THE    NATURAL    HISTORY 

perfectly  lifelike  attitude  can  be  given  to  the  form,  as  designed  by 
the  taxidermic  artist.  Over  this  the  skin  is  placed  and  fastened 
by  methods  that  subsequently  give  it  all  the  appearance  of  the 
animal  or  specimen  in  life.  I  cannot  in  a  brief  chapter  give  all 
the  details  necessary  to  accomplish  this,  nor  the  great  care  and 
skill  it  demands,  but  after  many  years  of  experimentation  the 
artisans  of  the  Leyden  Museum  have  reduced  this  operation  to  a 
positive  science,  and  in  most  cases,  as  will  be  seen  later  on,  the 
results  are  extremely  satisfactory. 

One  of  the  most  recent  achievements  in  this  direction  has  been 
the  mounting  of  a  remarkably  fine  specimen  of  that  most  extraor- 
dinary of  fishes,  the  Sunfish.  I  refer  to  the  Mola  rotunda  of  Cu- 
vier,  the  Orthagoriscus  mola  of  some  authors,  the  0.  nasus  of 
others.  In  operating  upon  this  specimen,  the  first  step  taken  was 
to  secure  as  good  a  photograph  as  could  be  obtained  of  the  dead 
fish  after  it  came  into  the  hands  of  the  taxidermists.  Next,  be- 
fore the  specimen  was  skinned,  an  accurate  outline  was  made — a 
most  important  step  in  the  procedure.  Then,  in  much  reduced 
size,  the  fish  was  modeled  in  clay,  and  from  that  model  the  speci- 
men was  reproduced  (after  being  skinned)  in  the  aforesaid  mate- 
rial, the  interior  of  this  last  model  being  left  hollow,  in  order  to 
render  it  as  light  as  possible.  This  model  resembles  exactly  the 
skinned  fish,  and  over  it  the  skin  was  placed,  with  every  neces- 
sary precaution  to  reproduce  the  animal  as  it  appeared  in  life. 
Thousands  of  pins  were  used  to  make  the  skin  fit  properly  into 
the  sulci  among  the  various  muscles  and  elsewhere;  the  internal 
surface  of  skin  being  first  poisoned  with  a  preparation  of  dex- 
trine, arsenic,  and  water,  so  that  after  the  pins  were  removed  the 
skin  retained  the  exact  position  on  the  model  that  had  been  given 
it  through  their  use.  Finally,  after  the  skin  had  become  thor- 
oughly dry  it  was  tinted  with  the  proper  pigments,  so  as  to  lend 
to  it  the  original  color  the  fish  had  when  alive.  The  setting  of  the 
artificial  eye,  the  restoration  of  the  mouth  parts  and  fins,  of 
course,  all  require  the  special  care  of  the  artist  and  make  due 
demands  upon  his  skill. 

Owing  to  the  fact  that  there  are  certain  osseous  formations  in 
the  skin  at  the  snout,  in  the  neighborhood  of  the  pectoral  fins, 
and  the  free  margins  of  the  tail,  the  model  in  these  situations 
does  not  exactly  agree  in  outline  with  the  mounted  specimen. 

This  preparation  has  been  adversely  criticised  by  some  Ameri- 
can taxidermists,  who  claim  that  the  longitudinal  wrinkles  shown 


OF  THE  UNITED  STATES 


451 


in  the  piece  behind  and  below  the  pectoral  fin,  are  of  postmortem 
origin,  and  do  not  exist  in  the  living  fish.  They  are  certainly  not 
shown  in  Gorde's  fine  figure  of  this  form  (Plate  35.  The  Fishery 
Industries  of  the  United  States). 

The  specimen  in  the  Leyden  Museum  measured  from  the  tip  of 
the  snout  to  the  extremity  of  the  tail  184  centimeters,  and  from 
the  tip  of  the  dorsal  fin  to  the  tip  of  the  anal  fin  218  centimeters, 


FIG.  120.      MODEL  OF  SUNFISH,  READY  TO  RECEIVE  THE  SKIN. 

Prepared  and  photographed  by  Mr.  H.  H.  ter  Meer,  Jr. 


making  it  a  fish  of  by  no  means  an  insignificant  size.  And,  to  tell 
the  truth,  these  Sunfish  do  attain  to  proportions  not  to  be  de- 
spised, for,  according  to  Goode,  one  was  brought  to  the  San 
Francisco  market  some  years  ago  that  weighed  no  less  than  636 
pounds. 

The  Sunfish  belongs  to  the  family  Orthagoriscidce,  and  it  is 
claimed  that  two  species  of  them  occur  in  the  western  Atlantic, 


452  CHAPTERS    ON    THE    NATURAL    HISTORY 

the  common  one  being  0.  mola.  Headfish  is  the  vernacular  name 
for  them  in  many  localities,  though  Sunfish  is  the  more  common 
one.  They  have  acquired  the  latter  appellation  from  the  habit 
they  possess  of  lazily  floating  at  the  surface  of  the  sea  in  a  flat- 
wise position,  the  whole  glistening  side  of  the  creature  being  just 
below  the  surface  of  the  water.  As  thus  engaged  the  waves 
break  over  them,  and  the  pectoral  fin  of  the  uppermost  side  is 
languidly  waved  to  and  fro  in  the  air.  A  dozen  or  more  may  thus 
be  seen  from  the  deck  of  one's  boat  during  the  course  of  a  day 
almost  anywhere  along  our  coast,  and  owing  to  their  conspicuous 
size,  that,  too,  at  a  considerable  distance  off.  Many  fishermen 
find  sport  in  harpooning  them  as  they  float  in  this  manner,  and 
the  ponderous  fellows  make  no  mean  struggle  for  life  afterward. 
I  have  also  read  accounts  of  hunting  them  aboard  a  yacht  or 
steam  launch  with  a  heavy  rifle  or  carbine.  At  such  times  ten  or 
a  dozen  of  them  are  started,  and  swimming  in  the  vertical  atti- 
tudes, offer  no  easy  mark  for  the  riflemen,  as  they  are  pursued  in 
their  wake.  When  thus  swimming  the  dorsal  portion  of  the  fish's 
body  is  above  the  surface  of  the  water,  and  its  great  dorsal  fin 
forms  a  very  conspicuous  object. 

Big  Sunfishes  may  attain  a  length  of  at  least  eight  feet  and 
weigh  as  much  as  800  pounds ;  but  after  one  has  captured  a  speci- 
men, it  is  fit  for  nothing,  except  to  study,  look  at,  and  wonder 
about.  Goode  says  the  "  flesh  is  thin  and  hard,  and,  when  cooked, 
separates  into  oil  and  bunches  of  tough  fibers."  As  long  ago  as 
1740  Dr.  Barlow,  an  Englishman,  suggested  making  glue  of  them, 
but  his  bright  idea  seems  never  to  have  been  carried  out.  At 
Cape  Cod  the  fishermen  extract  the  oil  from  the  livers  of  Sunfish 
and  believe  there  is  nothing  equal  to  it  as  a  remedy  for  contu- 
sions and  sprains. 

In  life  the  skin  of  the  Sunfish  has  a  brilliant  silvery  appear- 
ance, and  at  night  is  said  to  be  highly  phosphorescent.  Some 
people  say  that  this  is  the  reason  it  has  been  called  Sunfish,  or 
Moonfish,  as  others  name  it.  Jellyfish,  or  Sunsqualls,  are  con- 
sumed by  them  in  great  numbers,  but  as  they  are  endowed  with 
powerful  mandibles,  it  is  by  no  means  unlikely  that  they  also 
seek  tougher  foods.  So  far  as  the  writer  is  aware,  and  unless  the 
knowledge  has  been  recently  acquired,  we  are  utterly  ignorant 
as  yet  of  the  breeding  habits  of  Mola,  or  even  the  localities  fre- 
quented by  them  for  that  purpose;  every  once  in  a  while  a  young 
one  is  captured,  and  that  in  mid-ocean.  Although  I  sailed  for  an 


FIG.  121.     ANTERIOR  VIEW  OF  MOUNTED  SUNFISH. 

Same  specimen  as  shown  in  Fig.  122. 


OF  THE  UNITED  STATES 


455 


entire  year  in  the  Gulf  of  Mexico,  I  never  observed  a  Sunfish  in 
those  seas,  and  do  not  believe  they  occur  there;  indeed,  it  is  said 
that  it  is  not  until  we  come  to  the  coasts  of  New  England — and 
that,  too,  in  the  summer-time — before  we  begin  to  meet  with 
them.  According  to  Dr.  Goode  two  large  specimens  were  cap- 
tured at  the  mouth  of  the  Saint  John's  river,  Florida,  during  the 
winter  of  1874-75.  With  certain  exceptions  then,  the  Mola  is 
pretty  generally  distributed  throughout  the  tropical  and  temper- 


122.     LEFT  LATERAL  VIEW  OF  A  MOUNTED  SPECIMEN  OF  A 
SUNFISH  READY  FOE  MUSEUM  EXHIBITION. 

Prepared  and  photographed  by  Mr.  H.  H.  ter  Meer,  Jr.,  of  the  Leyden  Museum. 

ate  seas  of  the  world.  Dr.  Jordan  assures  us  that  a  smaller  spe- 
cies, the  Ranzania  truncata  of  science,  has  been  captured  in  vari- 
ous parts  of  the  Atlantic  and  Pacific,  but  never  nearer  to  our 
coasts  than  the  Bermudas.  It  is  distinguished  by  possessing  a 
much  more  elongated  form.  The  Bermudan  specimen  measured 
only  eight  inches  in  length,  and  was  taken  as  long  ago  as  1878 
When  in  a  sportive  mood,  old  Sunfishes  have  the  habit  of  leaping 


456 


CHAPTERS    ON    THE    NATURAL    HISTORY 


out  of  the  water  something  after  the  manner1  of  a  porpoise. 
This  has  been  noticed  oft*  the  coast  of  California,  where  perhaps 
this,  one  of  the  most  grotesque  of  all  fishes,  is  as  abundant  as 
it  is  in  any  other  part  of  the  world. 

In  the  mounting  of  mammals  the  same  general  principles  are 
employed.  This  is  well-shown  in  the  group  of  Jackals  (Canis 
aureus),  mounted  at  the  Leyden  Museum,  it  being  composed  of 
the  adult  pair,  five  young  ones,  and  a  fowl  which  has  been  killed 
by  the  robber  male  and  brought  to  the  pups  at  the  entrance  of 
the  den.  Both  the  hen  and  the  young  Jackals  were  mounted  by 
Mr.  ter  Meer's  father,  and  are  fine  pieces  of  work  in  each  instance, 
as  may  be  seen  in  the  accompanying  reproduction  of  the  proto- 
graph  of  this  group  sent  me  by  the  artists.  We  have  in  the  ac- 
cessories an  excellent  representation  of  a  North  African  scene 
on  the  border  of  the  desert  where  the  sandstone  soil  barely  sup- 


FIG.  124.      MODEL  or  JACKAL. 

$  >  showing  superficial  muscles :  ready  to  receive  the  skin.      Prepared  by  H.  H.  ter  Meer,  Jr. 


ports  a  meager  and  widely  scattered  growth  of  cactus  and  agave. 
The  rock  masses  in  the  scene  are  modeled  upon  cardboard  by  the 
use  of  Mr.  ter  Meer's  own  composition;  while  the  forms  of  these 
bowlders  were  obtained  from  photographs  of  similar  scenes  in 
North  Africa,  kindly  loaned  for  the  purpose  by  Mr.  Krause,  con- 
servator to  the  Geological  Museum  of  Leyden ;  and  from  the  same 
source  was  likewise  obtained  a  sufficient  quantity  of  the  sand  of 
the  desert  from  such  a  place  as  to  insure  the  selection  of  the 


OF    THE    UNITED    STATES 


459 


proper  color  to  paint  the  rock  masses  after  their  modeling  had 
been  completed. 

The  female  in  this  group  of  Jackals  has  been  placed  in  a  very 
natural  attitude,  it  being  one  of  attention,  complacently  regard- 
ing as  she  is  her  frolicsome  progeny,  two  or  three  of  which  are 
engaged  in  assisting  in  the  despoliation  of  the  victimized  fowl. 
The  male  Jackal  is  equally  good,  if  not  better,  than  the  mate,  for 
the  pose  is  more  difficult  to  reproduce,  yet  it  has  been  admirably 
accomplished. 

In  making  the  model  over  which  the  skin  is  subsequently  fixed, 
the  same  principle  and  the  same  material  is  followed  and  used  as 
was  described  in  the  case  of  the  Sunfish.  But  in  the  mammal,  a 


FIG.  125.     MODEL  OF  JACKAL,  9  (Canis  aureus). 

Companion  to  Fig.  124,  by  Mr.  terMeer,  Jr. 

much  higher  degree  of  skill  is  demanded,  inasmuch  as  the  super- 
ficial muscles  require  very  accurate  knowledge  and  treatment. 
Now  in  both  these  old  Jackals  all  the  chief  muscles  of  the  ex- 
ternal layer  were  reproduced  in  the  models,  as  will  be  seen  in 
Figs.  124  and  125.  These  muscles  I  have  carefully  examined  in 
the  photographs,  and  find  that  they  have  been  reproduced  with 
marked  fidelity  to  nature;  they  are  excellent. 

This  is  the  only  way  that  perfection  can  be  attained :  We  must 
obtain  the  best  possible  photographs  of  the  living  animal  in  as 
many  attitudes  as  desired;  we  must  take  all  necessary  measure- 
ments before  the  skin  is  removed;  we  must  take  afterward  casts 
of  the  carcass  and  make  other  photographs,  and  take  plenty  more 


460 


CHAPTERS    ON    THE    NATURAL    HISTORY 


measurements;  we  must  make  accurate  records  of  the  coloration 
of  all  skin  and  other  parts  as  they  appeared  in  life;  and  finally, 
in  every  step  of  the  mounting  we  must  keep  nature  in  our  eye, 
so  that  the  hands  faithfully  reproduce  all  that  the  mind  sees  and 
our  knowledge  appreciates.  Faultlessly  reproduce  nature,  and 
in  a  manner  that  the  methods  employed  result  in  rendering  the 
work  practically  permanent,  unchangeable,  and  indestructible 
by  the  ordinary  action  of  time,  pests,  and  climatic  influences. 
When  you  can  do  this,  fame  soon  follows. 

Another  good  piece  is  the  Fox  shown  in  Fig.  126.  It  is  a  very 
neat  and  natural  piece  of  work,  and  does  the  artist  credit. 

How  often  it  is  that  some  sportsman  loses  a  favorite  dog,  and 
would  love  to  have  him  prepared  by  the  hands  of  the  taxidermist 


FIG. §  126.     MOUNTED  SPECIMEN  OF  Fox  (Canis wdpes). 

By  H.  H.  ter  Meer,  Jr.,  in  the  Leyden  Museum  of  Holland. 

in  some  natural,  restful,  and  yet  characteristic  attitude,  so  that 
some  nook  in  the  gun  room  might  harbor  the  hero  of  other  days, 
and  recall  hours  spent  together  afield  in  seasons  long  gone  by. 
What  are  the  results  and  the  outcome  of  such  a  wish  in  the  vast 
mjority  of  instances?  Terrible.  Stiff,  awkward,  and  scarcely 
recognizable.  "  Poor  old  fellow!  "  you  say,  as  it  is  brought  home, 
and  the  first  desire  that  siezes  upon  you  is  that  the  hideous  phan- 
tom of  your  old  favorite  be  hastily  and  forever  now  removed  from 
sight.  You  cannot  bear  to  look  upon  those  senseless  eyes  and 
that  distorted  form.  Yet  did  you  but  possess  a  good  photograph 
of  the  animal,  and  the  dead  companion  were  prepared  after  the 
methods  employed  at  the  Leyden  Museum,  how  different  the  re- 
sult would  be;  you  would  know  your  friend  whenever  your  eye 


OF    THE    UNITED    STATES  461 

fell  upon  it,  and  instead  of  continually  wishing  it  out  of  your 
sight,  you  would,  ever  and  anon,  just  for  old  times'  sake,  feel  like 
patting  it  on  the  head,  with  the  wish  that  you  had  the  power  to 
restore  it  to  life. 

A  Jackal  has  always  reminded  me  of  our  well-known  Coyote 
(Canis  latrans),  with  a  strong  dash  of  the  fox  and  dog  in  it;  in- 
deed, not  a  few  of  our  naturalist  friends  in  Europe  are  of  the 
opinion  that  several  of  the  partly  domesticated  breeds  of  dogs 
in  northern  Africa  and  in  Asia  are  derived  from  the  common 
Jackal  (Canis  aureus).  Canine  in  anatomical  structure,  it  is  also 
largely  canine  in  external  appearance;  and  in  the  region  they  in- 
habit there  are  several  well-marked  varieties  of  them.  Accord- 
ing to  a  good  authority  at  hand,  the  Jackal  resembles  any  of  the 
foxy  types  of  dogs  "  in  dentition,  in  the  roundness  of  its  eye 
pupils,  in  its  period  of  gestation,  and  to  a  large  extent  also  in 
its  habits,  while,  like  the  dog,  it  is  subject  to  hydrophobia.  It 
grows  to  a  height  of  15  inches  at  the  shoulders,  and  to  a  length 
of  about  two  feet,  exclusive  of  its  bushy,  fox-like  tail.  Its  fur  is 
of  a  grayish  yellow  color,  darker  on  the  back  and  lighter  colored 
beneath.  An  excresence  consisting  of  a  horny  cone,  half  an  inch 
in  length,  and  concealed  by  a  tuft  of  hair,  is,  according  to  Emer- 
son Tennant,  sometimes  found  on  the  head  of  the  Jackal.  The 
Singhalese  aver  that  it  is  only  found  on  the  leader  of  the  pack, 
and  they  esteem  it  as  an  invaluable  talisman." 

Gregarious  by  nature,  rapacious,  cunning,  and  thieving,  these 
animals  are  a  perfect  pest  to  man  throughout  the  country  where 
they  occur.  Poultry  suffer  especially,  though  the  pack  will  not 
hesitate  to  attack  the  larger  quadrupeds  or  make  prey  of  the 
smaller  varieties.  They  hunt  chiefly  at  night,  hiding  in  the 
jungle  during  the  daytime.  A  pack  may  consist  of  as  many  as 
250  individuals;  so  when  a  raid  is  instituted  upon  the  farmyard 
by  such  a  canine  battalion,  flock  and  fowl  usually  suffer  pretty 
severely.  In  the  absence  of  fresh  food  a  Jackal  will  eat  carrion, 
and  so  they  score  at  least  one  point  in  their  favor  by  becoming  at 
times  useful  scavengers.  When  carrion  and  live  stock  are  both 
absent,  these  fellows  quickly  take  to  grapes  and  other  small 
fruits,  and  so  the  vineyards  and  orchards  suffer  instead  of  the 
farmyards  and  sheep  pens.  A  hyaena-like  cry,  peculiar  and  pierc- 
ing, is  possessed  by  this  animal,  and  when  a  whole  pack  opens  in 
chorus  at  night  the  effect  is  more  or  less  blood-curdling  and 
alarming.  Captain  Beechey  notices  it  as  having  something 


462  CHAPTERS    ON    THE    NATURAL    HISTORY 

rather  appalling  when  heard  for  the  first  time  at  night,  and  he 
remarks  that  as  they  usually  come  in  packs,  the  first  shriek 
which  is  uttered  is  always  the  signal  for  a  general  chorus.  "  We 
hardly  know,"  continued  the  captain,  "  a  sound  which  partaken 
less  of  harmony  than  that  which  is  at  present  in  question;  and, 
indeed,  the  sudden  burst  of  the  answering,  long-protracted 
scream,  succeeding  immediately  to  the  opening  note,  is  scarcely 
less  impressive  than  the  roll  of  the  thunder  clap  immediately 
after  a  flash  of  lightning.  The  effect  of  this  music  is  very  much 
increased  when  the  first  note  is  heard  in  the  distance — a  circum- 
stance which  often  occurs — and  the  answering  yell  bursts  out 
from  several  points  at  once,  within  a  few  yards  or  feet  of  the- 
place  where  the  auditors  are  sleeping." 

People  residing  in  India  often  find  pretty  good  sport  in  hunting 
jackals  writh  foxhounds  and  greyhounds;  and,  as  the  animal  is 
endowed  with  no  mean  amount  of  cunning,  he  is  not  far  behind 
the  average  fox  in  the  chase.  It  is  said  that  their  bite  is  more 
than  severe,  and  that  if  run  down  they  will  feign  death  in  order 
to  escape  being  taken.  When  domesticated,  in  habits  and  much 
else  they  remind  one  of  certain  breeds  of  dogs,  wagging  their 
tails  when  called,  or  crouching  upon  the  ground  when  rebuked. 

Like  foxes,  the  jackals  have  a  peculiar,  not  to  say  offensive, 
odor  about  them,  due  to  the  secretion  of  a  gland  at  the  base  of 
the  tail.  In  domesticated  individuals  this  feature  is  not  nearly 
so  apparent  as  in  the  wild  animals. 

Jackals  have  been  charged  with  the  crime  of  grave-robbing, 
and  especially  the  shallow  graves  of  soldiers  on  the  field  after 
battle,  but  how  much  truth  there  may  be  in  this  accusation  the 
present  writer  is  unable  to  say.  In  the  case  of  the  coyote  of  the 
west,  however,  I  know  it  to  be  true,  for  years  ago,  when  stationed 
as  post  surgeon  at  a  far  western  post,  there  were  hung  one  even- 
ing near  the  fort  two  notorious  "  road-agents  "  (stage-robbers), 
and  they  were  awarded  shallow  graves  under  the  cottonwood- 
tree  where  they  met  their  fate.  A  few  days  after  I  was  collecting 
birds  in  the  neighborhood,  and  stepping  over  to  this  place  of 
burial,  I  observed  a  spacious  burrow  leading  down  to  either  body. 
Three  or  four  coyotes  stood  off  at  no  great  distance  watching  my 
movements,  and  there  can  hardly  be  any  doubt  but  that  they 
were  the  authors  of  the  desecration. 

Recently  I  have  read  a  senseless  discussion  in  reference  to 
Samson,  who,  it  is  claimed  in  ancient  literature,  placed  firebrands 


OF  THE  UNITED  STATES  463 

between  the  tails  of  three  hundred  foxes,  in  order  that  the  ani- 
mals thus  dealt  with  might  set  fire  to  the  grain-fields  of  the 
Philistines.  It  was  not  the  absolute  impossibility  of  such  an 
occurrence  ever  having  taken  place,  but  the  narrator  desired  to 
have  his  readers  inform  him  whether  it  was  the  more  likely  that 
the  animals  referred  to  in  the  account  were  Jackals  (Can  is 
aureus)  or  the  common  foxes  of  that  region  (Canis  vulpes).  He 
is  careful  to  point  out,  is  this  disputant,  that  near  Joppa,  about 
Gaza,  and  in  Galilee,  that  the  Jackals  are  far  more  abundant 
than  the  foxes.  Speaking  of  foxes,  there  are  quite  a  number  of 
them  in  our  United  States  fauna.  For  example  there  is  the  com- 
mon Red  Fox  (Vulpes  f.  fulvus),  a  larger  and  a  handsomer  ani- 
mal than  the  common  fox  of  Europe,  shown  in  Figure  126  of  the 
present  chapter,  and  with  somewhat  different  habits. 

We  also  have  in  Arctic  America  and  northern  United  States 
the  Silver  or  Black  Fox  (V.  f.  argentatus),  and  the  Cross  Fox  (V. 
f.  decussatus),  while  confined  in  the  Arctic  regions  we  have  the 
Arctic  Fox  (T.  lagopus).  In  suitable  localities  in  the  west  one 
meets  with  the  Kit  or  Swift  Fox  (V.  velox),  and  the  Prairie  Fox 
(V.  macrurus),  while  on  the  Calif ornian  coast  occurs  the  Coast 
Gray  Fox,  belonging  to  a  different  genus  (Urocyon  v.  littoral  is), 
This  genus  also  contains  another  species  of  general  distribution 
in  this  country  southward  as  far  as  Costa  Rica;  I  refer  to  the 
Gray  Fox  (U.  mrginianus).  Doubtless  there  are  other  varieties 
that  have  been  found,  or  are  yet  to  reward  the  researches  of  the 
explorer.  Coyotes  are  more  closely  related  to  the  wolves  (Canis 
'latrans),  as  the  common  gray  wolf  of  North  America  (C.  lupus 
griseo-albus) .  What  has  been  written  about  foxes  would  cer- 
tainly fill  many  goodly  volumes,  and  these  cunning  animals 
surely  deserve  to  have  their  exploits  thus  preserved.  There  are 
about  thirty  or  thirty-five  species  of  Vulpes  known,  and  by  no 
means  a  few  good  subspecies. 

All  of  these  animals  of  which  I  have  been  writing  about  here 
belong  to  the  very  interesting  group  of  dog-like  forms,  constitut- 
ing the  family  Canidce.  As  a  whole  this  group  or  section  has  been 
termed  by  naturalists  the  Cynoidea,  it  being  one  of  the  divisions 
of  the  true  order  of  the  carnivora.  To  it  belong  all  the  breeds 
of  the  common  domestic  dogs,  the  origin  of  which  is  still  a  mat- 
ter of  doubt  in  the  minds  of  mammalogists.  Then  it  includes  the 
fine  series  of  wolves  and  foxes  of  various  parts  of  the  wrorld  as 
well  as  certain  types  of  small  and  elegant  fox-like  animals  of 


464  CHAPTERS    ON    THE    NATURAL    HISTORY 

Africa,  that  develop  enormous  ears,  and  are  endowed  with  ex- 
traordinary powers  of  hearing.  The  Fennec  and  the  Otocyon 
are  good  examples  of  these  last-named  genera.  We  have  much  to 
learn  about  them  yet.  The  Dingo  of  Australia,  a  fox-like  dog, 
occurs  both  wild  and  in  a  semi-domesticated  state  as  a  companion 
of  the  aboriginal  people  of  that  land. 

Many  naturalists  and  anatomists  have  devoted  themselves  to 
the  history  of  this  group,  and  the  researches  of  the  paleontolo- 
gists in  various  parts  of  the  world  have  been  rewarded  by  find- 
ing the  fossil  remains  of  different  species  of  the  Canidce,  and  not 
a  few  of  their  extinct  allies. 

Among  unskilled  and  thoughtless  taxidermists  the  opinion  is 
more  or  less  prevalent  that  in  the  case  of  mounting  any  large 
mammal  endowed  with  a  heavy  coat  of  hair — a  long  and  thick 
pelage  in  other  words — it  becomes  unnecessary  in  manufacturing 
the  model  to  take  any  pains  in  reproducing  the  superficial  mus- 
cles as  they  occur  in  life.  This  is  undoubtedly  a  great  mistake, 
and  is  doubtless  best  exhibited  in  such  a  group  of  animals  as  we 
see  in  the  bears.  If  a  taxidermist,  in  making  his  model  for  a  bear, 
makes  the  body  and  limbs  round  and  smooth,  and  utterly  ignores 
the  sulci  and  elevations  created  thereon  by  the  various  groups  of 
muscles  of  the  external  muscular  layer,  he  deceives  himself;  and 
when  the  animal's  skin  is  placed  over  such  a  model  and  adjusted 
with  the  view  of  having  the  specimen  appear  life-like,  it  will  be 
found  to  be  quite  impossible  and  the  result  far  from  a  natural 
appearance,  and  consequently  to  that  degree  unsatisfactory.  In 
Fig.  127  is  shown  a  reproduction  of  the  photograph  of  the  model 
that  was  made  for  a  Polar  bear  and  used  in  its  mounting.  It  will 
be  seen  that  considerable  pains  were  taken  in  carving  out  the 
superficial  muscles  as  they  are  developed  in  life,  and  the  great 
advantage  gained  thereby  is  at  once  apparent  in  the  finished 
specimen  here  shown  in  Fig.  128. 

The  large  tendon  in  each  hinder  limb,  the  muscles  of  the 
thighs,  of  the  shoulders,  and  the  fore  part  of  the  neck,  as  sculpt 
in  the  model,  have  all  had  their  influence  in  giving  character  to 
the  finished  piece,  and  the  general  result  and  effect  are  most  ad- 
mirable. 

As  I  have  remarked,  the  Polar  bear  shown  in  Fig.  128  is  but  a 
young  animal,  and  the  subadult  specimens  of  this  species  are 
larger  than  the  adults  of  some  other  kinds;  indeed,  a  full  grown 
Polar  bear  is  snid  to  exceed  in  size  the  largest  Grizzly.  Records 


OF    THE    UNITED    STATES 


465 


are  not  hard  to  find  of  their  having  attained  a  length  of  9  feet 
and  a  weight  of  1,600  pounds.  It  is  claimed  by  some  that  in  the 
case  of  this  species  the  female  alone  hibernates,  and  that  the 
male  may  be  seen  abroad  at  all  seasons.  Owing  to  the  fact  that 
this  bear  is  an  arctic  variety,  the  sportsmen  of  the  country  but 
rarely  have  the  opportunity  of  hunting  it;  and  consequently  we 
must  turn  to  the  accounts  left  us  by  the  famous  explorers  of 
those  frigid  regions  in  order  to  gain  any  knowledge  of  the  habits 
of  this  species.  Sabine,  Cartwright,  Lyon,  Sir  John  Boss,  Sir 
Edward  Perry,  Franklin,  Eichardson,  Dr.  Kane,  and  a  host  of 
more  recent  explorers  have  made  the  habits  and  geographical 
range  of  Thalassarctos  well  known  to  us;  and  these  narratives 
are  of  a  nature  sufficiently  exciting  to  arouse  the  enthusiasm  of 


FIG.  127.     FINISHED  MODEL  FOR  YOUNG  POLAR  BEAR 

(Thalassarctos  maritimus). 

one  who  perhaps  has  become  more  or  less  satiated  by  the  untold 
numbers  of  black  bears  and  grizzlies  he  has  slain. 

A  peculiar  character  seen  in  the  Polar  bear  is  that  this  species 
has  a  good  growth  of  fine  hair  upon  the  soles  of  its  feet.  It  is  a 
remarkable  nice  provision,  for  it  not  only  keeps  the  animal's 
pedal  extremities  warm  while  tramping  over  the  ice,  but  it  also 
renders  the  slipping  about  upon  the  same  footing  far  less  likely. 
There  are  some  splendid  bear  pits  here  in  the  National  Zoologi- 
cal Gardens  of  Washington,  D.  C.,  and  among  the  various  species 
of  bears  confined  therein  we  also  find  two  or  three  fine  examples 
of  the  Polar.  Their  habits  in  confinement  are  very  interesting 
and  well  deserving  of  close  study,  and  this  study  has  been 


466  CHAPTERS    ON    THE    NATURAL    HISTORY 

bestowed  upon  them  in  many  of  the  zoological  gardens  of  the 
world. 

Speaking  of  zoological  gardens  and  Polar  bears  reminds  me 
of  an  instance  that  fell  within  my  own  experience  a  good  many 
years  ago.  Dr.  W.  A.  Conklin  was,  at  the  time  referred  to,  the 
superintendent  of  the  gardens  of  Central  Park  in  New  York  City, 
and  he  was  doing  the  writer  the  honor  of  showing  him  the  ani- 
mals under  his  charge,  as  well  as  the  general  arrangement  of  his 
then  much  cramped  institution.  We  were  standing  in  front  of 
the  bars  that  confined  the  Polar  bears  to  their  pit;  an  old  male 
of  the  species  within  his  prison  stood  close  to  us,  and  he  was 
yawning  most  heavily.  A  young  city  Arab  about  fifteen  years 
old,  lustily  smoking  a  cigarette,  had  strolled  up  and  stood  next 
to  me  in  front  of  the  bars.  As  the  bear  gave  his  perhaps  final 
deep  yawn  it  appeared  to  be  too  much  for  this  depraved  son  of 
the  streets,  who,  with  a  precision  equaled  only  by  the  brutality 
of  the  act,  tossed  the  lighted  end  of  his  finished  cigarette  down 
the  gaping  throat  of  the  ursine  representative  of  the  boreal  re- 
gions of  the  earth.  The  animal,  smarting  under  the  sudden  and 
intense  pain,  first  snapped  his  powerful  jaws  together,  the  pecu- 
liar noise  created  thereby  attracting  not  only  the  attention  of  Dr. 
Conklin,  but  also  that  of  all  the  spectators  standing  nearby.  But 
this  was  not  all,  for  the  now  infuriated  bear  rose  to  his  full 
height  upon  his  hind  legs  and  gave  vent  to  a  roar  that  seems  to 
me  ought  to  have  been  distinctly  heard  by  another  entirely  dif- 
ferent kind  of  bear,  or  bears,  down  in  their  Wall  street  dens.  Dr. 
Conklin  quickly  turned  to  me,  to  ascertain  if  I  knew  what  in  the 
world  could  be  the  matter  with  the  fellow,  when,  with  equal 
promptitude,  the  nature  of  the  case  was  pointed  out  to  him. 
Without  a  word  of  warning  he  pounced  upon  the  culprit,  and 
begging  me  to  accompany  him,  he  was,  with  many  a  hearty  shake 
and  admonition,  ushered  into  the  presence  of  the  park  police 
court,  where  a  stiff  fine  was  very  soon  imposed  upon  the  fiendish 
perpetrator  of  the  deed.  As  we  passed  away  from  the  pit  I 
turned  back,  and  noticed  the  outlandish  capers  of  the  poor  bear 
as  he  smarted  under  the  sudden  pain  to  which  he  had  been  in- 
flicted. 

With  respect  to  the  small  carnivora,  we  find  a  well-mounted 
piece  of  the  Pine  Marten  (Mustela  martes.  Linn.)  that  I  am  per- 
mitted to  present  in  Fig.  126,  it  being  the  reproduction  of  a  photo- 
graph of  a  specimen  of  that  animal  mounted  by  Mr.  ter  Meer,  Jr. 


OF  THE  UNITED  STATES  469 

This  appears  to  be  a  very  accurate  piece  of  work,  and  if  one  will 
compare  it  with  the  figure  of  this  species  that  illustrates  the  ar- 
ticle Marten  in  the  ninth  edition  of  the  Encyclopaedia  Britannica 
(Vol.  XV.,  p.  577),  it  will  at  once  be  appreciated  that  there  are 
some  striking  points  of  difference.  These  differences  refer  es- 
pecially to  the  snout  and  the  tail;  the  former  being  too  acute  in 
the  aforesaid  drawing,  and  the  latter  not  near  full  and  bushy 
enough.  I  find  this  to  be  the  case  with  respect  to  other  well- 
known  figures  as  compared  with  the  Leyden  Museum  specimen. 
Here  is  an  instance,  then,  wherein  the  camera  triumphs  over  the 
unaided  eye  of  the  artist  in  portraying  objects  of  this  kind.  And 
the  more  this  instrument  is  scientifically  used  in  this  direction, 
so  much  the  better  will  it  be  for  the  interests  of  pictorial  zoology. 

According  to  Sir  William  H.  Flower,  the  Martens  constitute  a 
small  but  well-defined  section  of  the  family  Mustelidw,  belonging 
to  theArctoid  or  Bear-like  division  of  the  order  Carnivora.  The 
Pine  Marten  is  one  of  the  best  known  species  of  this  group,  and  is 
found  in  various  localities  throughout  northern  Europe  and  Asia. 
It  is  hardly  to  be  distinguished  from  the  North  American  Sable, 
or  Marten  (M.  americana) ,  of  the  fur  countries  of  this  continent. 
A  closely  related  form,  both  in  structure  and  habits,  is  the  Beech 
Marten  (M .  foina)  of  the  more  boreal  districts  of  the  Old  World, 
Sweden  and  Norway  excepted.  In  eastern  Siberia  the  true  Sable 
exists  (M.  zibellina)  ;  while  in  Japan  we  have  still  another  species, 
the  M.  melampus  of  science.  M.  flavigula  occurs  in  some  parts  of 
the  Himalayas,  Ceylon,  Java,  and  the  Malay  Peninsula.  Lastly,  in 
the  more  northern  parts  of  the  United  States  and  British  Ameri- 
ca, we  meet  with  the  famous  Pekan,  or  Fisher,  sometimes  called 
Pennant's  Marten;  quite  a  remarkable  animal. 

Be  it  remembered,  then,  that  out  of  the  genus  Mustela  we  have 
at  least  two  well-recognized  species  of  Martens  in  the  United 
States,  viz.,  the  American  Sable  (M.  americana),  and  the  Pekan 
(M.  pennanti).  With  us  the  family  Mustelidce  also  contains  the 
otters,  the  skunks,  the  badgers,  the  wolverine,  the  mink,  the 
ferrets,  the  ermine,  or  stoat  (Putorius  erminea),  and  the  wea- 
sels. A  quite  extensive  literature  has  been  devoted  to  the  Mus- 
telidw,  that  is  full  of  interest  even  for  the  general  reader,  but  my 
space  limits  will  not  admit  of  my  touching  upon  the  natural  his- 
tory and  geographical  distribution  .of  these  animals  in  the  pres- 
ent connection.  In  passing  I  am  compelled  to  remark,  however, 
that  I  have  been  greatly  surprised  at  the  inaccuracy  of  many  of 


470 


CHAPTERS    ON    THE    NATURAL    HISTORY 


the  figures  of  the  representatives  of  this  group  throughout  the 
works  devoted  to  their  biology,  and  that  zoological  photographer 
who  gives  his  attention  to  making  serviceable  photographic  il- 
lustrations, from  life,  of  any  of  these  animals,  will  indeed  not 
have  squandered  his  time,  nor  misplaced  his  labor,  for  biological 
science  will  have  been  distinctly  benefited  thereby. 

In  mounting  a  specimen  like  the  South  American  Ostrich,  bet- 
ter known  as  the  Rhea  (Rhea  americana),  the  same  plan  is  fol- 
lowed, and  requires  no  detailed  description  here  after  what  has 
already  been  set  forth  above. 

Existing  Ostrich-birds  form  a  distinct  division  of  the  Class 
.  1  rex,  and  include  such  forms  as  the  true  ostriches  of  Africa;  the 


PIG.  129.     MOUNTED  SPECIMEN  OF  THE  EUROPEAN  PINE  MARTEN 

(JM.  martes). 

Property  of  the  Leyden  Museum,  and  prepared  by  H.  H.  ter  Meer,  Jr. 

Cassowaries,  emeu,  and  the  rheas;  while  the  extinct  types 
known  to  us  are  the  moas  and  the  roc.  Some  authors  include 
the  kiwris  and  tinamous  in  this  group,  but  from  such  a  view  the 
present  writer  departs.  Of  the  genus  Rhea  we  have  three  species 
in  South  America,  inhabiting  different  regions,  the  precise  limits 
of  which  have  not  as  yet  been  distinctly  defined.  Then*  are  the 
Xandu  (If.  (inn'rinina)  (Fig.  130);  the  Patagoniaii  rhea,  or  Petise 
(R.  d(inrhii) ;  and  the  Long-billed  rhea  ( l\.  nmcmrlii/iicha).  New- 
ton in  the  Dictioiiuri/  of  Itirdx  remarks:  "On  the  'pampas'  A*. 
fiim-ricana  is  said  to  associate  with  herds  of  deer  (Cariacnx  cain- 
pestris),  and  R.  darwini  to  be  the  constant  companion  of  guana 
cos  (Lama  Jiuanacus);  just  as  in  Africa  the  ostrich  seeks  the  so- 


OF    THE    UNITED    STATES 


471 


ciety  of  zebras  and  antelopes.  As  for  R.  macrorhyncha,  it  was 
found  by  Forbes  (Ibis,  1881,  pp.  360,  361)  to  inhabit  the  dry  and 
open  t  sertoes '  of  northeastern  Brazil,  a  discovery  the  more  in- 
teresting since  it  was  in  that  part  of  the  country  that  Marcgrave 
and  Piso  became  acquainted  with  a  bird  of  this  kind,  though  the 
existence  of  any  species  of  Rhea  in  the  district  had  been  long- 
overlooked  by  or  unknown  to  succeeding  travelers."  (Part  III., 
p.  788.) 

The  Nandu  is  not  nearly  so  big  as  an  African  ostrich,  and  it, 
among  numerous  other  characters,  is  further  distinguished  from 


FIG.  130.     RHEA  AMERICANA. 

Collection  of  the  Leydeu  Museum  in  Holland.     Mounted  by  H.  H.  ter  Meer,  Sr. 

it  by  the  structure  of  its  plumage,  the  fact  that  it  has  three  toes 
upon  each  foot  instead  of  only  two,  and  by  the  head  being  nearly 
completely  feathered.  Its  plumes  have  none  of  the  beauty  of 
those  of  the  true  ostrich,  which  is  doubtless  a  very  fortunate  cir- 
cumstance for  the  bird,  as  man  can  only  find  use  for  them  in  the 
manufacture  of  light  dusting-brooms.  Although  not  of  recent 
date,  some  of  the  best  natural  history  accounts  of  the  Nandu  are 
to  be  found  in  Mr.  Darwin's  famous  work,  Tlie  Voyage  of  tlte 
Beagle,  while  not  a  few  other  authors  have  given  descriptions  of 


472  CHAPTERS    ON    THE    NATURAL    HISTORY 

the  exciting  hunts  for  these  great  birds  of  the  plains,  and  how 
the  lasso  and  bolas  are  used  in  their  capture  by  the  horsemen 
pursuing  them.  With  the  wind  in  their  favor,  however,  and  set- 
ting their  wings  as  sails,  the  Nandu  in  the  race  soon  leaves  a 
horseman  astern.  Consequently  the  huntsmen  are  obliged  to 
partially  surround  them,  several  riders  usually  forming  the  hunt- 
ing party.  These  birds,  although  slow,  are  by  no  means  bad 
swimmers,  and  take  to  the  water  most  readily.  Frequently,  too, 
they  will  feed  upon  small  fish,  though  roots  and  grass  compose 
their  ordinary  diet.  Darwin  noticed  that  they  would  squat  down 
and  conceal  themselves  in  the  tall  rushes  of  the  river-banks  and 
remain  in  such  a  situation  until  closely  approached  by  the  one 
who  observed  them;  and  this  eminent  writer  says  the  "inhabit- 
ants of  the  country  readily  distinguish,  even  at  a  distance,  the 
cock  bird  from  the  hen.  The  former  is  larger  and  darker  colored, 
and  has  a  bigger  head.  The  ostrich,  I  believe  the  cock,  emits  a 
singular,  deep-toned,  hissing  note.  When  first  I  heard  it,  stand- 
ing in  the  midst  of  some  sand-hillocks,  I  thought  it  was  made  by 
some  wild  beast,  for  it  is  a  sound  that  one  cannot  tell  whence  it 
comes,  or  from  how  far  distant." 

In  a  foot  note  to  these  remarks  he  adds,  "  A  Gaucho  assured 
me  that  he  had  once  seen  a  snow- white  or  albino  variety,  and  that 
it  was  a  most  beautiful  bird."  A  nest  of  this  species  is  a  mere 
shallow  excavation,  containing  on  the  average  from  twenty  to 
thirty  eggs;  the  male  alone  incubates  and  cares  for  the  brood. 
Many  additional  eggs  are  dropped  by  the  hen  over  the  pampas 
that  are  never  hatched.  The  cock  is  a  close  sitter,  allowing  him- 
self almost  to  be  ridden  over  before  taking  himself  off;  several 
hens  are  said  to  lay  in  the  same  nest,  and  as  many  as  fifty  eggs 
have  been  found  in  one.  Azara  says  eighty.  Cock  birds  are  dan- 
gerous when  in  charge  of  the  brood,  and  will  even  attempt  to  kick 
a  man  off  a  horse. 

Among  British  ornithologists  the  best  published  accounts  of 
the  three  species  of  Khea  are  given  by  Darwin,  Sclater,  Newton, 
Harting,  Forbes,  and  Cunningham.  Sir  Eichard  Owen,  Prof. 
Huxley,  and  Dr.  Gadow  have  written  much  upon  their  anatomy; 
while  travelers  of  other  nationalities,  as  Azara,  Prince  Max  of 
Weid,  and  Prof.  Burmeister,  have  left  us  many  interesting  de- 
scriptions of  their  habits  and  general  natural  history. 

THE    END. 


INDEX. 


PAGE 


A. 


Abbott,  C.  C.,  cited  on  Crayfishes 45,  46 

Abbott,  Jos.  De  B.,  on  Crayfish 46,  47 

Acrobata    404 

/Eschua: 

habits  of  the  genus 38 

heros  . . . .  „ 34 

grandis     34 

Agaphelus  gibbosus   376 

Agrioiiidse     34 

Agrious,  eggs  of 37 

Aldus  ocelata.  common  name  for 105 

Alcse,  as  a  suborder  of  birds   174 

birds  representing  the    174 

Alcidae,  affinities  of 167 

Alcock,  A.,  work  with  deep-sea  fishes...  79 

Alle  alle,  where  found  177 

Allen,  Harrison,  on  Bats   432 

Alligator: 

Florida   159 

habits  of   159,  160 

origin  of  name 157 

spectacled  158 

Alligators    156 

as  distinguished  from  Crocodiles   . .  156 

Amber,  Fossil  Spiders  in   34 

Amber,  Insects  preserved  in   27 

Ambergris,  nature  of  379 

Amblystoma  tegrinum 96 

Amblystomas   96 

American  Crossbills,  in  confinement  ....  338 

myths  about 339 

Ampclis  pJiocn icopterus   292 

Ampelidae,    origin   of  English   names   for 

species  of 297,  298 

the  family 297 

Amphibia,  animals  grouped  under 91 

Amphibians,    a    group   of   the   gnatJwsto- 

mata 26 

Ampliioxus 25 

where  classified   . . . 26 

AmpTiiuma  means 91 

AnacantMni 80 

Anatomy: 

defined   22 

developmental   23 

Fossil    23 

topographical     22 

Ancistrodon   138 

Angel-fish    70 

Anguillidae,  literature  of 134 

Animal,  zoological  meaning  of  134 

Animals: 

classification  of   21 

multi-celled    25 

Anis,  a  genus  of  Cuckoos  268 

Anolidac,  a  genus  of  Lizards   109 

Anolis  principalis  109,  113,  115,  116 

Annulosa,  groups  of 44 

Anomaluria,   the  family    404 

Antelopes  and  Ostriches  471 

Ants,  protective  mimicry  in 33 

Anura 91,  100 

Apodes    82 

Arachnirfa 44 

amount  of  literature  on   28 


PACE 

a  class  of  invertebrates 27 

a  group  containing  the  Spiders  ....  28 

Arthropoda    44 

of  the  invertebrata  27 

Articulata   44 

Asclcpias    incarnata,    in    nest    of    Yellow 

Warbler   324 

Asio,  the  genus 233 

Astacidae,  A  revision  of  the 44 

Astacus,  a  genus  of  Crayfishes  44 

Aspidonectcs  ferox 154 

spinifcr   154 

Assapaus,  a  name  for  Flying  Squirrels.  .  399 

Audubon  on  Crayfish   48 

on  Loons  and  Divers 174 

Auk: 

characters  of  the  177 

habits  of  177 

Razor-billed   177 

Auk,   the  Great   174,  179 

Auklet: 

Least  and  Rhinoceros   178 

Whiskered    175,  178 

Auklets,  genus  of 177 

Auks,  systematic  position  of 174 

Axolotls,  history  of 99 

Azara  on  Ostriches  472 

B.   . 

Badger  469 

Baker,  Sir  Samuel,  on  Crocodiles  as  food  163 

Balacna,  species  of  the  genus 376,  377 

Balacnidae,  the  family   376 

Balaenoptera,  the  speries  of  the  genus.  . .  376 

Balanoglossus  25 

where  classified   26 

Bandicoots    372 

Bat: 

Hoary,  habits  of   432 

Pale    432 

Red    432 

Serotine   432,  435,  440 

Batoidei    70 

Bats: 

anatomy  of 427 

books  about   431 

distribution  of 427 

hibernation  of 435 

Long-eared   427 

Leaf -nosed    427 

methods  of  capturing 435 

protective  resemblance  in   436 

superstitions    about    . 436 

various  names  for  435 

Beaver,   teeth  of   424 

Beddard,  cited  on  Snakes   133 

Belidcus    404 

Bendire,  on  the  eggs  of  Stunu-lla  210 

Berardius  bairdii 375 

Biologist,  methods  of  work  of  a 19 

Biology,  definition  of  the  science  of  ....  21 

Birds,  a  group  of  the  gnatJwstomata. . . .  26 

Black  and  White  Warbler,  nest  of 320 

Blackfishes   383 

Black-poll  Warbler   320 

life  history  of  323 

Blind  Angler   78 


INDEX 


PAGE 

Blotched  King  Snake   134,  135) 

Blowing    Viper    134 

Bob-white,  another  name  for  Partridges  'J14 

Bottle-nose  Whales  3X4 

Bowhead  Whale 387 

Box    Tortoise    147 

Brandt,  on  the  Natatores ] 

Brit,  a  whale  food   387 

Bubo  v>r(/iti  i(innt<: 

habits  of  238 

varieties    238 

Buffon,  on  the  bill  of  the  Crossbill 338 

Itufo  rnl<iariK.  accounts  of 100 

Bullfrog,  external  characters  of 101 

Bull  or  Pine  Snake   142 

Bundy,  W.  F.,  cited  on  Crayfishes 45 

Bureau,  Loxiis,  on  bill  of  Auks   178 

Burrowing  O  .vis,  habits  of   247 

Buzzards: 

habits    of    228 

powers  of  sight  and  smell  in 224 

Turkey  228 


Cachalot  Whale   

California  Gray  Squirrel  

CalUpepla,    the   genus    

Cambarus  : 

a  genus  of  Grays   

bartonii  robusta   

dlogcncs    

Canidae: 

the  family 

fossil     

Cam's,   species  of   

Cape  Haytien,  Crabs  at 

Capybara    

Carabus      

Carapace      

Carcharias   glanciis    

Carctta  imbricata 151, 

Carolina  paroquet: 

distribution  of 

eggs  of  

Catbird : 

breeding  near  Washington 

nest  of 


photographing  the 
rearing  the 


Wilson's  account  of  the  ........... 

Cathartes,  various  species  of  ........... 

Cayman  and  Caiman   .................. 

Cedar  Birds,  life  history  of  ........  291, 


place  in  the  system  for 


genus  of  guillemots 

an/lie 
Ofratiids 
Ci'tact  a  : 

bibliography  of 

t  he    order 

Cetaceans     families   of 
Chameleon.    American 
Chaparral  cock 
Chelonia: 

number  known 

order  of 

riridis 
Chelonians: 

characters    of    ....... 

classification  of 
Chickarees 
Chipmunks 

Ka  stern  States  species 
GMroneotes.  the  genus 
Chiroptcra,   the  order 
ChlamydosclachHS  tmi/iiiiK  u* 
Cho(  n»i»iN   i-dNttiinitis 
Chordata,   defined 
f'ji,Hnx.  affinity  with  Muni* 


384 
413 
215 

44 
45 
45 

463 
4(14 
463 

49 
423 

51 
140 

72 
153 

250 
256 

346 
347 
346 
349 
345 
222 
158 
297 
25 
20 

178 
181 

78 

388 
374 
380 
Ki'.l 
267 

140 
140 

158 

146 
155 


.405, 


41(1 
307 
427 

74 
372 

25 
358 


PAGE 

Cixlinlo  Carolina    ....................  148,    149 

Classification: 

artificial   ..........................      24 

groups  employed  in  ...............       24 

natural  ...........................       23 

structural  resemblances  in  ........      23 

what  based  on   ...................      22 

Glaus,  Dr.,  on  Spiders  .................      31 

Clio  borcalis,  eaten  by  Whales  ..........     387 

Closet-naturalists,   work   of    ............       16 

Cyclophis  : 

ucstiva     ...........................     133 

vernalis  ........................  130,  133 

Coccyzus,  various  species  of  ............     203 

Coclenterata,   where  classified   ..........      26 

Colaptcs  auratns,   nest  of   ..............     273 

Colinus,  various  species  of  .............    214 

Colugo    ................................     404 

Colymbidac.   family  of   .................    164 

Conurus  carolincusis: 

extinction  of   .....................     250 

food   of    ..........................     250 

niditleation    of    ...................     256 

Cope,  Professor,  on  epiglottis  in  Snakes.     143 
work  on  Crayfishes  ...............      45 

Coral   Snake  (Elaps)    ...................    134 

Cormorants,    species    of    in    the    United 
States  ........................  198,  201,  202 

Count  De  Geer,  cited  ..................      35 

Coursus   ...............................     163 

protecting    Crocodiles    ............     163 

Cow  Blackbird,  breeding,   habits  of  ....    310 

Coyotes,  related  to  foxes  ..............    463 

Crab: 

Hermit,  or  Soldier  ................      50 

Oyster    ...........................      51 

Crabs: 

calling    ...........................       52 

Fiddler     ..........................       50 

how  they  differ  from  Crayfish   .....       49 

Japanese    .......................  .  .       51 

Jonah    ............................       52 

Yellow  shore    ......  ...............      52 

mud     .............................       52 

pea    .............................  .      51 

Purple  shore    .........  '.  ...........      52 

racer   .............................       52 

robber    ...........................       52 

rock     .............................       52 

spider   ............................      50 

stone  ...  ..........................      5ii 

Violet  land   .......................      4!) 

where  classed   ....................       14 

Cramp  Fish   .......  ....................       68 

Crania  In  : 

defined   ...........................      2<5 

first   division  of    ..................       26 

second  division  of   ................       26 

Crayfish: 

Barton's,  near  Washington,  D.C  ...........  45,  46 

chimneys    of    .....................       45 

food  of  ...........................       4(.i 

Huxley's    ......  ...................       1S» 

in    winter    ........................       48 

method  of  building  their  chimneys.       47 
number    of    species    in    the    I'nited 
States   .......  .  ..................       45 

where   classed    ....................       44 

work    upon    in    the    U.    S.    National 
Museum    ........................       45 

Crocodiles: 

history  of   .....................  101.    10.", 

of    the    Nile    ......................     10- 


1  58 
150 
1  ">0 


335 


eggs  of  .......................... 

structure  and  characters  of  ...... 

order  of  ......................... 

acutus  ...................... 

Crossbills: 

variation  in  the  crossing  of  the  bills 
Of  .  . 


INDEX 


description  of   335 

Crotaphytus  collar  is   125,  126 

Crotalus    caudisoiia    138 

Crotaphaga   ani    268 

sulcirostris    268 

Crustac<  a : 

a  class  of  the  Invertebrata 27 

containing  Crays  and  Crabs  44 

Cuckoo,    Black-billed: 

life  history  of 266 

California!!   266 

§ivat  spotted  269 

iberian  in  Alaska 260 

Cuckoos: 

African    269 

as  a  group   260 

nidification  of   266 

Cucullos     28 

Cuculus  canorus: 

habits    of    260 

c.  telephones  in  Alaska 260 

Cavier,  on  E?f  Tadpole   99 

Cyclofitonwta,  a  division  of  the  Craniata.  26 

Cynoidra,  the  group 463 

Cyrtonyx,  the  genus 216 

D. 
Daddy-long-legs,  classed  with  the  Arach- 

nida  28 

Dampier,   work  cited   198 

Darwin : 

on  the  Black  Skimmer 194 

on  the  genus  Furnarius 358 

on  ostriches  472 

Dasyuridae,   the  family   372 

Deep-sea    fishes,     various    species    from 

Bay   of  Bengal    80 

Delpliinapterus,  species  of  the  genus  ....    375 

Delphi nidac.  the  family   374 

Delphinus,  species  of  the  genus 374 

Dendroica  discolor,  nest  of 324 

Denticetc,   the  suborder   374 

Development,  defined 23 

Devilfishes,    capture  of    69 

Devil's  Darning-needles  34 

Didclphidac   364 

anatomy   of    368 

Didclplujs,  the  genus  367 

DingS 464 

Diplex  berenice   oo 

rubicundula  35 

Diver,  Black-throated 171,  173 

plumages  of 173 

Dogfish: 

eggs    of 74 

feeding  on  crabs 52 

various  species  of 70 

Dogs,   domestic 463 

Doloinedcs  tenebrosus 30,  31 

Dovekie,  history  of  the 177 

Douglass's  horned  toad 120 

Dragon-flies 34 

duration  of  life  in 38 

fossil  forms  of 38 

how  to  study 37 

how  classified   34 

larvae  of 37 

literature  on    34 

metamorphosis  of 38 

number  described   35 

present  knowledge  of 39 

reproduction  of 35 

uses  of  to  man 37 

Drummoud,  on  snakes 134 

Dryobates  pubcsceus   270 

Ducks,  nesting  of 309 

Dugongs,  place  in  the  system  of  the.  ..  .     393 

Duplicidentata,  the  suborder 405 

Dyer,  work  cited 21 

E. 

Eagles,  related  to  Harpagorius 444 


PAGE 

Echinoderniata,   in  classification 26- 

Eel,   Congo    91 

Eels,  breeding  establishment: 

at  Commachio  89 

electric 90 

habits  of  87,  88 

myths  about 88 

Eggs,  of  birds 306 

Electric  Rays 68 

Elf  owls  . . '. 249 

Emballonuridac,  the  family 432 

Embryology,    in   classification 23 

Ermine 469 

European  cuckoo,  breeding  habits  of....  310- 

Extinction  of  Birds 257 

F. 

Faxon,  Walter,  on  the  Astacidse 44 

Feather  tracts,  defined  and  named 290 

Fennec   464 

Ferrets 469- 

Finches  and  Sparrows: 

number  known  to  Wilson 330,  335- 

foreign  forms  of 335 

Fisher  . .  T 469 

Fishes: 

a  group  of  the  Gnathostomata. . . .  26 

deep-sea  74 

Fire-flies,  luminous  powers  of 28 

Flamingoes,   nidification  of 309 

Flower,  Sir  William  Henry: 

on  bats 428 

on  the  whales 378 

on  the  opossums 368 

Flying  Foxes 431 

Flying  Lemurs    404 

Flying  Squirrels: 

as  pets 400 

characters  of 400 

life-history  of    40O 

traits  of 403 

Forbes,  S.  A.,  cited  on  Crayfishes 45 

Fox: 

taxidermy  of  460 

Arctic   463 

Cross     463 

Gray    463 

Kit '  or  Swift 463 

Silver  or  Black 463 

Fratercula,  eggs  of 30& 

Fringillidse,  the  family   317,  329 

Frogs,  genera  of 100 

Furnarius  rufus: 

general  description  of 358 

Newton  on    361 

nest  of  314 

other  authors  on 362 

G. 

Galcopithecidae,  the  family 404 

Galls,  origin  of 28 

Gannets,  various  species  of 199 

Garman,  work  cited 74 

Gavial  160 

Generic  groups  in  taxonomy 24 

Genius,  defined   24 

Ckococcyx  californiarus,  life-history  of   . .  267 

Giant  sperm  whale 384 

Gila: 

Chipmunk   405,  409 

monster  120 

Gill,  Dr.  Theodore,  work  cited 78 

Glass-snake,  description  of 109 

Glancidium,  the  genus 249 

Globioccphaluz,  species  of  the  genus  ....  375 

Glow-worm   109- 

Guathostomata,    second    division    of    the 

Craniata 

Goose  fish 78 

Grampus,  species  of  the  genus 375 

Grampuses,  markings  of 383 

Great  Horned  Owl  in  Alabama 231> 


INDEX 


PAGE 

Great  Northern  Diver,  habits  of 170,  173 

Grebe,  Horned: 

habits  of 165,  168,  169 

various  names  for 164 

Grebes,  various  species  of 167 

Grizzly  bear,  size  of 465 

Ground  Squirrels   406 

Orymmaeomys,  of  Burmeister  366 

Guillemot: 

Black    181 

description  of 181 

Gull,   Ross's   184,  186 

Gulls: 

as  related  to  other  birds 183 

species  of   183 

characters  of  various  species 186 

fossil   185 

habits  of 187 

Gum  Copal,  insects  preserved  in 27 

Giiuther: 

on  Lizards   108 

on  the  use  of  ribs  of  snakes  in  loco- 
motion    143 

work  cited   67,  100 

quoted  on  deep-sea  sharks 74 

Gypagus  papa,  iu  Arizona 222 

H. 

Halicore,  the  genus 393 

Halilherium,  its  relationships 391 

Hamsters 425 

Hares,  species  of 425 

Harpagornis,  relations  of 444 

Hay.  W.  P.,  cited  on  Crayfishes 45 

HeUomig,   ralline  characters  of   167 

Heloderma  suspectum  120 

Hemiurus,  the  subgenus 368 

Herons,  nests  of 310 

Herring  Hogs   384 

Hesperornithidae,  family  of 167 

Hesperornis  regal  is  and  crassipes. 167 

related  to  Loons 444 

Hesperornoidea,  superfamily  of 167 

Hippocampidae  82 

Hippcampus.   species  of 82,  83 

Histology : 

defined   22 

developmental   23 

Hagen.   H.   A.,  cited  on  crayfish 45 

Hagfishes,  place  in  the  system  for 26 

Hornbills,  breeding  habits  of 309 

Horned  Toads 109 

Horse-stingers 34 

Humming-birds,   nests  of 310 

Huxley: 

cited  on  Crayfish 45 

on  taxonomy   23 

work  cited   100 

HydrocJielidon,  a  genus  of  Terns 188 

Byla  versicolor: 

description  of   102 

photographing   105 

Hyperoodon  rastratus  375 

I. 

Ibis,  White,  and  Crayfish 48 

Ichthyopsida   26 

Ichthyornis,   as  related  to  Rynchops   ....  185 

Icteria  vireux,   life-history  of 340,  342,  344 

Indigo  bunting,  nest  of 310,  315 

Insectivora   367 

Insecta,  a  Class  of  invertebrates 27 

Insects: 

chapter  on   27 

duration  of  life   in 27 

economic  importance  of 27 

fossil 27 

fertilizing  plants   27 

group  of  the  .{iinulnfta  44 

luminous  powers  of 28 

literature  on _7 


PAGE 

main  characters  of 27 

number  of  species  of 27 

number  of  species  described 27 

parasitism  in 28 

period  of  existence  affected  by  tem- 
perature     27 

preserved  in  gum  copal 27 

preserved  in  amber 27 

Invertebrata: 

place  in  the  system,  of  the 25 

the  Kingdom  of 27 


J. 


Jacare,   Eggs  of 

Jaegers: 

habits  of  , 

species  of  , 

Jackals: 

habits  of •. , 

hunting 

relations  of    

taxidermy  of   

Jackass  Rabbits  

Jamaica,  Crabs  of 

Jellyfish,  eaten  by  Sunfish 

Jordan,   D.  S.,  work  cited , 

June  bugs,   eaten  by  bats 

K. 

Kabung  

Kangaroos 

Killer  Whales 

Killers,  food  of 

King  crabs  

Kinglets,   nests  of 

King  Penguin,   nidification  of. , 

King  Snakes 

King  Vultiires,  seen  in  Arizona. 
Kogia,  brcviceps 


LagenorJiynchus,  species  of  the  genus. 

Lagomorpha 

Lagomyidac,  the  family 


Lagomys  princeps 

Lama  huanacus  and  Rhea  ............... 

Lampreys: 

a  name  for  Sirens  ................. 

classification  of  ................... 

Lampropeltis   ........................  137, 

Laucelet    .............................. 

Lapland  Lemmings,  migrations  of  ...... 

Lcporidae  .............................. 

Lepus  cuniculus   ........................ 

Leucorhamphtis  borealis  ................. 

Libellula: 

Eggs  of  .......................... 

trimaculata,  named  by  ............. 

quadrhnrtculata    ................... 

Libellulidae   ............................ 

Limulus    ............................... 

Linnaeus,  his  classification  of  bats  ...... 

Little  Chief  Hare.  ..................... 

Living  specimens,  methods  of  study  ---- 

Lizards: 

habits  in  captivity  ................ 

methods  of  capture  ................ 

photographing  .................... 

various  species  and  genera  ......... 

Lockwood,   on  young  sea-horses  ........ 

Longipennes  : 

aftinities  of  ....................... 

classification  of   .................. 

Loons: 

as  related  to  Grebes  .............. 

ancestry   of   ...................... 

species  of  ........................ 

Lophiids    .............................. 

Lophius  piscatoriux  ..................... 

Lophobranchii  .......................... 

Loxin  cnrrirostrd   i/thiur  ............... 


158 

190 

189 

461 
462 
461 
456 
425 

49 
452 

87 
440 


404 
372 
380 
378 
44 
313 
306 
137 
222 
376 


374 
423 
426 
426 
471 

91 

26 

139 

25 

411 

425 

425 

374 

37 

35 

35 

34 

44 

428 

426 

16 

126 
125 
125 
129 

85 

167 
183 

167 

167 

170 

78 

78 

82 

336 


INDEX 


PAGE 

c.  stricklandi 336 

leucoptera 336 

pityopsittaciis    336 

taenioptcra 337 

Lycosidac,  a  family  of  spiders 31 

M. 

Macrocltmmys  tentminckii  155 

Macropodldae,   the  family 373 

Macrotis,  the  genus 372 

Mammals,    a    group    of    the    Gnathosto- 

mata    26 

Manatees,  American: 

history  of   393 

species  of   393 

young  of    394 

Manatees,   how  classified 388 

Manatus,  the  genus 393 

Mancalias   shufcldti    78 

uranoscopus 78 

Mangrove  Cuckoo,   distribution  and  his- 
tory of   264 

Man-o'-War  Bird   198,  202 

Mantidae,   where  classified 43 

Mantis: 

Australian  form  of 43 

African  species  of 43 

external  characters  of 41 

food   of    42 

folklore  of    40 

habits  of 39 

in  history    , . . .  39 

meaning  of  name 39 

other  names  for 39 

protective  mimicry  in 42 

religiosa  39 

uses  in  China 41 

worshiped  by  Hottentots 41 

Marine  Turtles  151 

Marmots    405 

Marsupialia,  the  group 364 

Marsupials,  how  classified 372 

Marten: 

beech    469 

Pennant's 469 

pine 469 

sable  469 

Material,  quantity  necessary  for  study. .  18 
Meadow-larks : 

as  game  birds  204 

habits  of  205 

Hegalestris,  the  genus 189 

Megapodes,  nidification  of 309 

Megaptera,   species  of  the  genus 376 

Megascope,  descriptions  of  various  species 

of   247 

Mesoplodon  sowerliensis    376 

Metachirus,  the  subgenus 367 

Metathcria,   the  subclass 364 

Metazoa: 

classification  of    25 

defined  25 

invertebrate   25 

Mice: 

lumping   421,  423 

singing  of 420 

Micourvus,  opossums  of  the  group  368 

Micro-cliiroptera,  the  suborder 432 

Mioronallas,  n  genus  of  owls 249 

Miene 399 

Migrations  of  birds 317 

Mink   469 

Mites,  a  group  of  the  Arachnida 28 

Mivart,  St.  George,  \vork  cited 100,  102 

M'Lachlan: 

cited   on   dragon-flies 38 

cited  on  the  relations  of  insects  to 

other  Classes 27 

Mniotiltidae.  the  family 317,  318,  353 

Mola  rotunda,  taxidermy  of 450 

Mollusca,  in  classification   26 


PAGE 

Monodon  Monoceros 375 

Monotremes,  Eggs  of 306 

Monteiro's  Angola,  cited  on  Mantis 43 

Morphology,  defined  22 

Mosquito  Hawk    34 

Mouse.   Deer  415,  419 

Mud-daubers,  capturing  spiders 33 

Muraenas   89 

Muraenidae,  species  of 89,  90 

Muraenopsis  tridactylus 91 

Muridae,  the  family  423 

Murrelets,   species  of   177 

Museums: 

Army  Medical  442 

of   anatomy    442 

of  the  future  445 

origin  and  growth  of  442 

various  kinds  of 442 

Mustela: 

americana 469 

foina    469 

flaviaula 469 

melampiis  469 

martes 469 

zibellina    469 

Mustelidae,  the  family 469 

Myriapods,  group  of  the  Annulosa 44 

Myriopoda,  a  Class  of  the  Invertebrata.  27 

Myrmecobius,  the  genus   372 

Mysticete,  the  suborder 376 

Myths: 

about  bats   431 

about  jackals  462 

Myxine,  a  genus  of  the  Cyclostomata. .  26 


Nakoo  or  Gavial  160,  162 

characters  and  habits 161 

Nandu 470,  471 

Narwhal,  description  and  history  of 383 

Natatorcs   164 

Native  Devil   372 

Rabbits    372 

Natrix  sipedon  133,  135 

Naturalist : 

armamentarium  of   17 

books  for 17 

education  of  young  19 

qualifications  for  15 

former  education  of  young 20 

Ncobythites  steatiticus    80 

Nests  of  Birds: 

characters  of  306,  309 

conventional  form  of 310 

difficult  to  draw 302 

some  unknown   314 

Neuroptera,  order  of 34 

Newton,  Alfred: 

on  Parrots    259 

on  habits  of  Loons 170 

on  the  affinities  of  Pygopodes 167 

Nighthawks,  used  as  food 204 

Noddies,  habits  of 189 

Non-chord fita,  defined 25 

Nordenskjold.  on  the  Sea  Cow 393 

Nyctala  acadica  246 

Nyctinomus,  habits  of  the  genus 432 

O. 

Odonata,  of  Kirby 34 

Ophibolus  rhombomacuJatus   137 

Ophidiidac  80 

Ophisaurus 109 

Opossum : 

Crab-eating 367 

habits  of.  in  confinement  369 

Lord  Derby's : 367 

Three-striped  368 

young  of   370 

Opossums: 

fossil  . 373 


INDEX 


PAGE 

systematic  position  of  .............  364 

Orca,  species  of  the  genus  ..............  375 

Orcortyx,  the  genus  .....................  215 

Ornithological  Hall  of  Smithsonian..  .445,  447 

Orthagorisnis  tuola   .....................  45n 

characters  of  .....................  45:2 

size  of  ............................  451 

systematic  position  of  .............  451 

vernacular  names  of  ..............  45:2 

Orthoptera,  contains  the  Mantidie  ......  43 

Oscines,  defined    .......................  317 

Ostrich: 

African    ..........................  471 

South  American   ..................  470 

writer  on  .........................  472 

Otocyon  ................................  4(54 

Oven-bird,  description  of  ...............  354 

Owl: 

Barn,  natural  history  of  ..........  232 

Long-eared   .......................  2.'!2 

Short-eared  .......................  2:;:; 

Snowy    ........................  238,  245 

Owls: 

species  of   ........................  232 

great  gray  ........................  243 

P. 
Pacas  ................................. 

Packard,  A.  S.  : 

on  eels  ...........  ................ 

cited  on  dragonflies  ................ 

on  chelonia  ....................... 

on  crayfishes   ..................... 

on  locomotion  in  snakes  ........... 

Palaeontology,  science  of  ................ 

Parasitism,   in  insects  .................. 

Parrot,  Thick-billed: 

Notes    on   its   being   a    bird   of   the 
United  States  ....  ............... 

Parrots,  breeding  habits  of  ............. 

Partridges,  as  a  group  .................. 

Passeres,  the  suborder  .................. 

Passcrhui  Cyanca,  photographing  nest  of. 
Pekan  ................................. 

Pelican: 

Brown,  description  of  ............ 

White    ............................ 

Pelicans,    various   species   of,    and    their 

habits   ............................ 

Pennant's  Marten   ..................... 

Peramcles,  the  genus  .................... 

Peranicliddc,  the  family  ..............  372, 

Peromyscus  Icucopus  .................... 

Pctaurus  ............................... 

Petise  ................................. 

Petromyzon,  in  classification  ............. 

Pies,  eggs  of,  resembling  those  of  cuck- 
oos  .................................. 

Pigeons,  breeding  habits  of  ............. 

Pigmy  sperm  whales  ................... 

Pikas    ................................. 

Pine  Marten  ........................... 

Pityophis  sayi  bcllona,   structure  of  Epi- 


425 

87 
37 

147 
44 

143 
23 
28 


lottis 


Phaeton,  vernacular  names  for 
Phalangistidac,   the  family 
Phascogale,  the  genus 
Phascolomi/idac,  the  family 
Phocoena,  species  of  the  genus  of 
Photography: 

of  birds 

warblers 

PhrunOAQHM,  genus  of  lizards 
Phylloptcrya;,  protective  mimicry  in 
Physulux,  species  of  the  genus 
Physercridae,   the  family 
Phj/tftcr  macroccphalus 


Phalu  nnistidac,  the  family 

Plastron 

Pliny,  his  classification  of  bats 


258 
310 
213 
330 
310 
469 

196 
198 

195 
469 
372 
373 
415 
404 
470 
26 

269 
310 
384 
423 
466 

142 
198 
373 
372 
373 
375 

270 
320 
109 

86 
376 

376 
.".Hi 
67 
4(»4 
if; 
428 


PAGE 

Podicipoidca,   superfamily  of. 164 

Poey,  Don  Felipe,  work  cited 77 

Polar  bear,  taxidermy  of 464 

Porcupines    423,  426 

Porifera,   where  classified 26 

Porpoise,  Common,  where  classified  ....  380 

Prairie  Warbler,  nest  of 324,  327,  329 

Praying  Mantis 39 

Pristis  pcct hiatus 67 

ProcelfarUdae,  Huxley  on  the 185 

ProdclpJihnis  cuphrosyne 374 

Protective: 

coloration  in  snakes 130 

mimicry  in  snakes 130 

Protective  resemblance  436 

in  Bats 439 

in  Harlequin  snake 439 

Prothonotary  warbler,  nest  of 320 

Protozoa: 

defined    25 

how  classified 25 

PscHdogrypluis  californianus : 

distribution  of 230 

eggs  of %J::i 

Pieromys    399 

Pterpmya  iiitidus 404 

Pterylography : 

methods  of  studying 281 

of  woodpeckers 281 

terms  employed  in,  281,  282, 285,  286,  289 

Puffing  pigs   384 

Puffins,  species  and  habits  of 181,  182 

Putmau,    F.   W.,   cited  on   crayfishes    ....  45 

Pygmy  owls 249 

Pygopodes 164 

Quail: 

Black  or  Fool 216 

Massena,  or  Partridge 219 

Quail  and  Partridge,  how  distinguished.  214 

K. 

Rabbit,  of  Europe 425 

Rumania  truncata 455 

Rattle  of  rattlesnake 141 

Rattlesnakes    138 

Rays  and  Skates,  families  of 68 

Rear  Horse: 

beneficial  to  man 

eggs  of 39 

why  so  named 39 

Red-eyed  Vireo,  nest  and  young  of 311 

Reptiles,  a  group  of  the  Gnathostomata. .  26 
Reptilia: 

animals  referred  to 91 

animals  representing   108 

Rhabdopleura,  place  in  the  system  for. .  26 

RhacManectes   glaucus    376 

Rhea: 

amcricana    470 

darwini 470 

macrorhyncha   470 

Rhynchopaitta  pachyrhyncha : 

Evidence  as  to  its  being  a  bird  of 

the  United  States 258 

Rhytina  stclleri: 

described  by  Flower 391 

discovery  of,  by  Steller   391 

Road-runner,  distribution  of 267 

Rodendia,  general  consideration  of 405 

Rodents  as  flesh-eaters 411 

Roussette  bat   431 

Rynchops  nigra,  osteology  of 184 

S. 

Sable,  North  American 469 

Saint-Hilaire,  work  cited 368 

Salamander: 

description  of  

myths  about  95 


INDEX 


PAGE 

spotted    ...........................       99 

Sauropsida    ............................      26 

Sawfish: 

capture  of  .........................     67 

s;t\v  of   ...........................       67 

Sa  \v-whet  Owls  ........................     246 

..........................  12."»,   127 

family    of  .................  399,  405 


413 

the  genus   ........................  410 

volans   ............................  399 

Sclaler,   on  the  Pygopodes  ..............  164 

Scorpions,  a  group  of  the  Arachnida.  .  .  .  28 

i-incrca: 

habitat  of  ........................  243 

c.  lapponica  .  .  .  ....................  243 

Screech  Owls,  species  of  ................  247 

Sea    (1o\vs    .........  _.  ...................  388 

Sea  horse: 

description  of    ...................  82,  83 

young  of   .........................  85 

Shakespeare  on  toad-myths  .............  106 

Shark: 

fossil  .............................  72 

Hammerhead   .....................  73 

man-eating  .......................  71 

Sharks: 

compared  with  Kays  ..............  70 

various  species  of  ................  72,  73 

Shufeldt,  R.  W.,  work  cited  ............  101 

tfibhaldius,  species  of  the  genus  ........  376 

SimpHcidentata,   the  suborder  ...........  405 

HipJioiitoinu  .............................  82 

Hir«lt>n,  the  genus  ......................  99 

Siren,    three-toed    .....................  91,  93 

i,   the   order  ......................  388 

awicapillus,   its  affinities  ........  358 

Biurus: 

nest  of  ....................  354,  357,  359 

myths  in  regard  to   ...............  363 

song  of  ...........................  353 

Six-lined  lizard  ........................  125 

Skate,   barndoor   .......................  69 

Skates  and  Rays,  habits  of  .............  69 

Skimmer,    Black    ................  185,  191,  192 

Skua,  origin  of  the  name  ...............  190 

Skuas   and   Jaegers,    systematic   position 

of    ...................................  185 

Skunks   ................................  469 

Smith,  S.  1.,  cited  on  Crayfishes  .........  45 

Snake  doctor   .........................  34 

Snakes: 

general  characters  of  ..............  138 

teeth  of  .............  .............  141 

in  history   ........................  144 

photographing  .................  134,  137 

Snapping  turtles,  habits  of  .............  155 

Sotalia  pallida  .........................  374 

Species,  morphological  .................  24 

Speotyto,  the  genus  .....................  247 

Spermaceti   ............................  379 

Spermophiles    ..........................  405 

Spermophilus,  the  genus  ................  410 

Sperm  whales,  species  of  ...............  384 

Suhvrapicus    r.    ma-iuilis,    pterylography 

of  ...  ...................  ......285,  287,  289 

Spiders: 

as  a  group  of  insects  ..............  28 

characters  and  habits  of  ..........  33 

diving  ............................  31 

drinking  water   ...................  33 

enemies  of   .  .  .  ....................  33 

fossil  .............................  34 

group  of  the  A  nnulOM  .............  44 

how  they  spin  .....................  29 

plan  of  web  of  ....................  29 

poisonous  bites  of  .................  32 

protective  mimicry  in  .............  :!."> 

various  kinds  of     .................  '_".> 

Spinnerets  of  spiders  ...................  29 


PAGE 

Sponges   25 

Squaiina  70 

Squirrels: 

Abert's  410,  412 

Arizona     410,  412,  413 

Fox   410 

Gray      410,  411 

Red  410 

Stagnoniantis  Carolina   31) 

Star  fish,    classification   of 26 

Steganopodes,  the  group 198 

Stcno: 

coinpressus     374 

ftmctiH    374 

Btercorariu*,  the  genus  189 

Stigmata  in  larval  dragon-Hies 37 

Sting-rays,    characters  of 70 

Stoat 469 

Storks,  nests  of 310 

Strigidae,  western  forms  of 249 

Sturnclla  maf/na : 

meaning  of  the  name 2O5 

neglecta  and  other  species 205 

nest  of 207,  209 

Sula: 

bassaiia.  characters  of  1!)!) 

CIHIHOPX  and  other  species 200 

Sun fish: 

how  mounted 450 

its  characters   4">ii 

species  of    455 

Surnia  ulula 245 

•u.  caparnch,  natural  history  of   ....  245 

Swainson  on  name  of  Oven-bird 358 

Swamp     milkweed     in     nest     of     Yellow 

Warbler    324 

Swifts  and  Swallows,  nests  of 314 

SynffitatMdae,  description  of 82 

&!/,•  iiinni  iicbuJoNUin : 

photographs  of 240 

n.  allenl   240 

n.   occidentals   240 

T. 

Taguans    399 

Tailor  bird,  nest  of 313 

Tapock,   the   opossum  called 367 

Tarr,  Ralph  S.,  cited  on  crayfish   45,  46 

Tasmanian   Wolf   372 

Taxidermy : 

at  the  Leyden  Museum 450 

models  in 449 

of  H.  H.   ter  Moor,  Jr 44! >.  4r.C, 

Scientific 459 

Taxonomy : 

defined  21 

natural 2:> 

Teeth  of  rodents 425 

Tenuaut,    work   cited 161 

Tern : 

Black    189 

Roseate    189 

Trudeau's   188 

Terns: 

habits  and  characters  of IS" 

number  of  species  known IS!) 

Least,  distribution  of IS!) 

Tcstudo  pardalis   14S.  152 

Thalassarctos.  literature  on 465 

Thelyphonits  rjigantfus   32 

Thomas,  Oldfield,  on  opossums 364 

Thylaclne    :«>2 

Thylacinus  c^anoccplwlus   372 

Titmice,  nests  of 314 

Toad,  Surinam 100 

Toads : 

history  of   106 

genera  of 1  <  ><  i 

voice  organs  of lot; 

Torch  fish,  description  of 77.  78,  80 

Torpedo,  capture  of 68 


INDEX 


PAGE 

Tortoises,  structure  of  shell  in 148,  151 

Tortoise-shell,  how  obtained   151 

Traps  for  small  mammals 415 

Tree-toads,  species  of 102,  106 

Trichechidar,  the  family  388 

Trilobites,  fossil  crustaceans 44 

Trlonyx 154 

Troglodytldae,  the  family 346 

Tropic  birds,  species  and  habits  of 198 

Tunicata   25 

classification  of 26 

Turner,  L.  M.,  on  Auks 178 

Tursiops,  species  of  the  genus 375 

Turtles: 

as  distinguished  from  terrapins.  . .  .  148 

species  of  154 

Typhlopftaras  shufcldti 78 


Uhler,  cited  on  dragon-flies 35 

Unicorn,  origin  of  the  myth  of  the 383 

Unlos,  eaten  by  inuskrats 411 

Uria,   the  genus 174 

troilr,   habits  of 181 

lomvia,  and  other  species  181 

Urinator,  genus  and  species 169 

Urinatoroidea,  the  superfamily 164 

Urocyon,  species  of 463 

Urodela,  United  States 91 

V. 

Vegetable  morphologist  defined 21 

Vermes,  classification  of 26 

Vertebrata : 

as  defined  by  Cuvier 26 

characters  of ; 27 

classification  of 26 

defined  and  classified 25 

phylum  of 26 

Vespertilionidac,   the  family 432 

Vinigaroon    33 

Vulpes: 

the  genus   463 

number  known   463 

Vulture,    Turkey    223 

Vultures : 

as  a  group 221 

photographing   221 

species  of 223 

W. 

Warblers: 

nests  of  313 

number  of  known 318 

rare  and  beautiful  species  of 329 

various  habits  of 319 

Water  fleas    44 

Water-ousel,  nest  of 314 

Water  Thrushes,   species  of 358 

Wax-wiugs: 

as  a  name  for  Cedar  Birds 292 


PAGE 

Bohemian    292 

Weasels  4<>!> 

Weaver-birds,   nests  of 313 

Webster,  cited  on  Australian  Mantis.  .    .      43 
Whales: 

classification  of   374 

general  character  of 377 

Whale-bone  whales  :!S7 

Whip-tailed   Scorpion ;;:; 

White,    Dr.,     on    mouth    parts    of    Hull 

snake   142 

Wilson,  Alexander: 

number     of     United     States     birds 

known  to  330 

on  Cross  bills 338 

Wolverine 469 

Wolves,  their  relatives 463 

Woodchucks   405 

Woodpecker: 

Golden- winged,  nest  of 27", 

Harris's,  pterylosis  of 278,  28."..  L'sr. 

lied-naped,  pterylosis  of 285,  287 

Wood  Bats 423 

Wood  Thrush : 

description  of  298,  305 

nest  of , 301,  303 

young    :;m.  ."><>5,  307 

Worms,  classification  of 26 

Wrens,  nests  of 313 


Xanlltium  strumarium : 

as  a  food  of  the  Carolina  Paroquet  .  250 

photographing  Conorus  on   253 

Xavier,  St.  Francis,  cited  on  Mantis.  ...  41 

Y. 

Yellow-billed  Cuckoo   263 

Yellow-breasted  Chat  :uo 

nest  and  young  of ">4.",  .".44 

notes  of ."41' 

Wilson's  account  of 341 

Yellow  Warbler,  nest  of ."1'4 

Young  Flickers,  characters  of 274 

Young  Vultures    224 


Zapus  hudsonius   421 

life  history  of 422 

Zebra  Wolf  or  Opossum 372 

Zebras  arid  Ostriches 471 

Zeuglodon,  systematic  position  of 377 

Ziphiidac,  the  family .".7.1 

Kiphhis,  species  of  the  genus .""."> 

Zoological  Gardens,  bears  in 4(»r> 

Zoological  photography  of  mammals....  470 

Zygacna  malleus 73 

Zygodactyle  feet  as  a   character  in  clas- 
sification  in  Birds U«;:; 


ISSUED  UNDER  THE  AUSPICES  OF  THE  NATURAL  SCI- 
ENCE ASSOCIATION  OF  AMERICA.  NEW  YORK,  U.  S.  A. 
FOUNDED  1888.  INCORPORATED  1892.  OBJECT  :  TO  DIS- 
SEMINATE AND  PROMOTE  NATURAL  SCIENCE  INFORMA- 
TION. 

w  Birds  of  North  America 

.  .  ANNOUNCEMENT  .  . 

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hundred  different  species  of  birds,  comprising  nearly  all  that  are  known  to  exist 
on  this  continent,  including  Mexico  and  Central  America,  accompanied  by  a 
copious  text  giving  a  popular  account  of  their  habits  and  characteristics,  and  em- 
bracing in  general  the  observations  made  by  the  most  eminent  writers  on 
ornithology. 

The  original  drawings  for  the  work  were  made  from  nature  by  Theodore  Jas- 
per, A.M.,  M.D.,  an  artist  of  superior  capabilities,  who  has  made  ornithology  a 
life-study.  Revised  by  John  Graham  Bell,  Esq.,  Audubon's  companion  in  the 
field,  and  a  well-known  ornithologist  and  taxidermist.  The  systematic  table, 
arranged  according  to  the  classification  adopted  by  the  American  Ornithologists' 
Union,  was  prepared  by  Frank  M.  Chapman,  Esq.,  Assistant  Ornithologist  at  The 
American  Museum  of  Natural  History,  New  York,  includes  all  the  additions  to 
and  corrections  of  our  North  American  species  which  have  been  made  to  date,  with 
an  index  to  page,  plate,  and  figure,  of  each  species,  according  to  the  A.  O.  U.  number. 

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From  the  President  of  the  Agassiz  Association,  Harlan  H.  Ballard. — "It  is  the  finest  book 
on  American  birds  issued  since  Audubon's,  and  is  pronounced  by  some  authorities  superior  to  that 
now  rare  and  costly  work." 

From  Prof.  C.  S.  Maynard,  Author  of  "The  Birds  of  Florida"  and  "  Birds  of  Eastern 
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From  Robert  Caie,  Yarmouth,  Nova  Scotia.— "'  THE  BIRDS  OF  NORTH  AMERICA'  should  be 
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copies.  One  is  now  in  the  '  Milton  Library '  here,  another  is  in  the  possession  of  Wm.  B.  Doane,  taxi- 
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From  Theodore  N.  Gill,  Ph.D.,  M.D.,  Member  of  the  National  Academy  of  Sciences.— 
"It  is  a  meritorious  volume,  and  gives  lovers  of  birds  reliable  information  respecting  their  variety, 
beauty,  haunts,  and  habits.  It  is  altogether  so  handsome  as  to  make  it  a  very  appropriate  ornament 
for  the  family  table." 

From  Secretary  of  Agriculture.—"  The  study  of  birds  tends  to  develop  some  of  the  best  attri 
butes  and  impulses  of  our  natures.  Among  them  we  find  examples  of  generosity,  unselfish  devotion 
of  the  love  of  mother  for  offspring,  and  other  estimable  qualities.  Their  industry,  patience,  and  in- 
genuity excite  our  admiration  ;  their  songs  inspire  us  with  a  love  of  music  and  poetry  ;  their  beautiful 
plumage  and  graceful  manners  appeal  to  our  esthetic  sense ;  their  long  migrations  to  distant  lands 
stimulate  our  imaginations  and  tempt  us  to  inquire  into  the  causes  of  their  periodic  movements,  and 
finally,  the  endless  modifications  of  form  and  habits  by  which  they  are  enabled  to  live  under  diverse 
conditions  of  food  and  climate  — on  land  and  at  sea— invite  the  student  of  nature  into  inexhaustible 
fields  of  pleasurable  research." 

From  Mrs.  Mary  Mapes  Dodge,  New  York.—"  I  consider  '  THE  BIRDS  OF  NORTH  AMERICA'  a 
very  valuable  work." 

From  J.  G.  Lane,  Poughkeepsie,  N.  Y.— "  The  bird  books  were  so  satisfactory  I  concluded  to 
have  another  one  at  the  same  price,  bound  like  either  of  those  I  have." 

From  J.  B.  Wright,  Akron,  O.— "  Both  Mr.  Baird  and  myself  are  possessors  of  your  mag 
nificent  and  valuable  work." 

From  Right  Rev.  Bishop  A.  Cleveland  Coxe,  D.D.,  LL.  D. — "Fora  family  of  intelligent  chil- 
dren, here  is  a  book  which  may  furnish  a  never-failing  fountain  of  interest  and  entertainment.  1  count 
him  a  happy  man  who  can  afford  to  lay  it  before  his  family  and  his  guests.  How  pure,  how  ennobling 
such  a  study  !  It  may  prompt  youthful  genius  to  further  researches  in  these  fields  :  and  if  it  tempts  a 
young  girl  to  try  her  hand  at  drawing  and  coloring  such  portraits  of  our  feathered  visitors  and  co-citi- 
zens for  purposes  of  domestic  ornament,  it  will  be  a  happy  result.  I  recommend  this  book  to  pur- 
chasers— a  very  rare  sort  of  commendation  from  me." 

From  Dr.  James  W.  Ford,  Pillsbury  Hall,  Owatonna,  Minn. — "  I  inclose  check  for  copy  of 
'  BIRDS  OF  NORTH  AMERICA,'  sent  me  on  approval.  It  is  all  you  claim  for  it  and  more— a  grand  work 
that  will  be  long  unsurpassed." 

From  Rev.  Dr.  Francis  X.  Shulack,  President  of  St.  Ignatius  College,  Chicago.—"!  am 
highly  pleased  with  your  elegant,  scientific,  and  very  instructive  treatise  on  "THE  BIRDS  OF  NORTH 

AMERICA.'  " 

From  Chas.  H.  Shepard,  M.D..  81-83  Columbia  Heights,  Brooklyn.— "  I  gladly  give  my 
opinion  of  the  merits  of 'THE  BIRDS  OF  NORTH  AMERICA,'  issued  under  the  auspices  of  the  Natural 
Science  Association.  It  is  a  book  that  every  family  would  be  proud  to  have  on  its  table.  Its  value  to 
the  young  can  scarcely  be  measured.  My  appreciation  of  the  work  is  well  expressed  by  having  pur- 
chased six  copies." 

From  J.  J.  Jordan,  Scranton,  Pa. — "  I  would  not  be  without  it  for  a  great  deal  more  than  the 
price  I  paid." 

From  Mrs.  Wm.  Emerson,  Chicago,  111. — "  It  certainly  is  a  beautiful  work 

"A  grand  work." — Recreation.  "A  great  work." — National  Teacher. 

"A  wonderful  work." — Good  Citizen.  "A  superb  .work." — Publishers'  Weekly. 

"A  magnificent  ornithological  work."—  Turf,  Field  and  Farm. 

"  It  is  one  of  the  most  ambitious  publications  ever  attempted  in  this  country." — Cleveland  Leader  . 

"  No  work  evincing  such  perfect  care  and  finish,  at  such  a  reasonable  rate,  has  ever  been  pub- 
lished in  this  country  or  abroad." — Inter  Ocean,  Chicago. 

"A  magnificent  work,  equal  to  'Audubon's  Birds,'  giving  all  the  birds  of  North  America  with 
elaborate  plates  in  natural  colors,  accompanied  by  descriptions." — Education,  Boston. 

"  If  artistic  and  beautifully  colored  plates,  letter-press  of  the  highest  order,  and  scientific  knowl- 
edge reduced  to  the  plainest  terms  can  make  up  a  valuable  work,  this  certainly  deserves  that  designa- 
tion."— A  jnerican  Sportsman. 


Imperial  quarto  volume,  substantially  bound  in  fine  half  bindings,  Si.s 


In  addition  to  the  artistic  illustrations  of  our  two  hundred  typical 
species  of  birds  of  the  world,  the  work  contains  drawings  of,  first,  the 
skeleton  of  a  bird  ;  second,  a  bird's  wing  ;  third,  the  position  and  form 
of  the  feathers;  fourth,  the  terminology  of  a  bird,  and  including  a 
copious  text  embracing  the  general  outlines  of  the  Science  of  Orni- 
thology with  the  classification  of  the  birds  of  the  world,  as  adopted  by 
Dr.  Brehm,  for  many  years  Superintendent  of  the  Zoological  garden  at 
Berlin,  fully  describing  each  of  these  in  detail. 

Samples  of  plates  and  text  sent  on  receipt  of  twenty-five  cents  in 
two-cent  stamps. 

In  Red  Cloth,  75  cents.     Paper,  50  cents 

The  Discovery  of  America  by  Christopher  Columbus 

BY    HARRY    HAK1ES,    M.D. 

The  preface  of  the  author  of  this  interesting  book  is  concise  and 
to  the  point,  and  tells  in  a  few  words  its  scope  and  aim:  "that  the  mass 
of  mankind  in  this  hurrying  age  will  neither  purchase,  peruse,  nor  pos- 
sess the  extensive  literature  pertaining  to  the  '  Discovery  of  America ' ; 
then  he  hopes  the  following  pages  may  be  found  to  contain  a  suffi- 
ciently full  historical  statement,  to  elucidate  the  great  event. 

In  Foolscap  8vo,  printed  on  antique  paper,  and  bound  in  olive  cloth,  51.50 
"An  interesting  book  and  a  decided  step  in  the  right  direction." 

— PUBLISHER'S  CIRCULAR. 

The  English  Rediscovery  andColonization  of  America 

BY  JOHN   B.   AND   MARIE  A.   SHIPLEY 

The  authors  trace  the  discovery  of  America  from  its  earliest  be- 
ginnings, in  a  series  of  chapters  embracing  the  Norse  Discovery,  a  de- 
piction of  the  motives  and  results  of  the  voyages  of  Columbus,  and  the 
actual  discovery  of  North  America  by  John  and  Sebastian  Cabot,  show- 
ing how  these  various  events  were  mutually  inter-related,  and  how  the 
last  named  led  to  the  existence  of  the  present  United  States  of  America. 

NATURAL  SCIENCE  ASSOCIATION,  114  Fifth  Ave.,  New  York 


Chapters  on  the  Natural  History    • 
of  the  United  States 

BY  DR.  R.  M.  SHUKELDX, 

Issued  under  the  Auspices  of  the  Natural  Science 
Association  of  America 

New  York,  U.    S.   A. 

volume  is  a  handsomely  printed  royal  octavo  of  about  400  pages,  illustrated 
by  many  full-page  plates  and  numerous  text  figures.  In  scheme  the  book 
consists  of  a  series  of  chapters  devoted  to  the  life  histories  of  many  of  the  better- 
known  mammals,  birds,  fish,  reptiles,  and  insects  of  the  United  States,  written  in 
a  thoroughly  instructive  and  popular  style.  Scientific  technicalities  are,  however, 
not  altogether  ignored,  but  are  so  incorporated  as  not  to  interfere  with  the  popular 
presentation  of  the  subject-matter  as  a  whole.  One  of  the  chief  features  of  the 
work  consists  in  the  elegant  half-tone  plates  reproduced  from  a  remarkable  series 
of  photographs,  all  made  by  Dr.  Shufeldt  himself  from  the  living  forms.  Fully 
four-fifths  of  these  are  of  the  size  of  life,  and  present  the  subjects  in  their  most  char- 
acteristic attitudes,  and  frequently  with  all  the  natural  surroundings  of  their  haunts 
in  nature.  From  this  point  of  view  alone,  these  figures  constitute  a  series  highly 
calculated  to  help  teachers  and  parents  throughout  the  world  ;  to  educate  students 
and  pupils  of  all  ages  in  the  correct  appreciation  of  form  of  living  creatures  ;  and 
finally,  to  stand  as  models  of  great  value  for  the  use  of  artists  and  taxidermists. 
Indeed,  the  work  cannot  fail  to  be  but  of  the  greatest  use  to  teachers  in  the  public 
schools  throughout  the  United  States,  while  in  the  library  of  the  general  reader  it 
will  fill  the  place  of  one  of  a  class  of  works  upon  natural  history,  which,  in  this 
age  of  biological  literature,  are  only  too  rarely  produced,  given  over,  as  the  ma- 
jority of  them  are,  to  the  more  technical  treatment  and  aspects  of  science.  The 
author,  Dr.  Robert  W.  Shufeldt,  is  well  known  as  an  eminent  writer  on  popular 
and  scientific  natural  history,  for  many  years  Associate  Zoologist  at  the  Smith- 
sonian Institution. 

Royal  Octavo,  Extra  Cloth,  Gold  Top,  Cut  or 
Uncut  Edges,  $3.50  net 

Sent  by  express,  charges  paid,  on  receipt  of  price. 


Sttader   Brothers, 

BUILDING,    156     KlKTH 

NEW     YORK 


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BIOLOGY   LIBRARY 


SEP  14  1932 

NOV   141934 

JUL  2  8 1958 
JUL  2  8  1958 


LD  21- 


225348 


